


Out Your Window

by MirellaPryce



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Deformity, Dubious Consent, Dubious Morality, F/M, Jack being an adorable guardian, M/M, Multi, Pain, Scars, Surprisingly no sex actually written considering, Threesomes, Torture, Violence, War, because I cannot write smut, incubus au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 11:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 33
Words: 34,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3727117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirellaPryce/pseuds/MirellaPryce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You shouldn't trust young men who come through your window in the middle of the night with grand stories of adventures, and battles and history.</p><p>You shouldn't trust blue eyed angels that promise to teach you the ways to lure in your heart's desires.</p><p>You shouldn't get attached to your meals.</p><p>Heart ache and pain can be the only outcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Close Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zinfandel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zinfandel/gifts).



Maybe it had been a month. Maybe it had started shortly before that, but finally, _finally_  his brother had stopped trying to get into his room at night. Most likely it had only been because their parents had come home from some business trip or another around the same time. Even if Pitch didn't understand social norms very well, he understood what it meant to upset their parents by rattling the door all night in a futile effort to "return things to how they should be."

 

He didn't know how long this peace would last now that they were gone again though. Tonight he would get some sleep, and he'd think about it in the morning or whenever it came up again. Koz didn't want to bother risking an "if".

 

He was drifting off the sleep, when that hope for peace was abruptly shattered by a loud racket at his window. He sat up quickly at the first sound, and didn't bother muffling his curse of "Shit! What the fuck Pitch? We're three storeys-"

 

What he saw cut off his words immediately. In any normal circumstance, he'd be ready to deal with a break in, but the curious head popping in his now open window looked just as stunned as he was. Not only that, but...were those wings?! His mind tried to rationalize that that was impossible, but blinking did nothing to remove the image. While his mind tried to process this new and strange information, the thing opened up the window more and slipped in properly. It...looked like a he...certainly not a normal he though. Whatever this thing was, practically glowed in the little light there was in the room, he was so pale. He had white hair, and blue eyes that stood out in such a pale face. He wore beaten up brown pants, but no shirt. If Koz had been in proper control of his mind or body at that moment, he might have been embarrassed that there was a half naked man in his room, late at night. As it was, he was a bit too preoccupied with the fact that this guy had giant white wings in his back to really bother with anything other than shock.

 

They both stared hard at each other for moments that passed into minutes. In that time, Koz had calmed down, and had assessed his options between escaping or fighting this strange person who had broken into his home. He took a stance that would allow him to do either, depending on whatever move the thing made first. Meanwhile, it just stared back at him with disbelief. Finally, it opened it's mouth, and the voice seemed too low for such a small body. "Can you see me?"

 

Koz raised an eyebrow at such a weird question. Without changing his stance, incase this was some kind of trick, he replied curtly, "Yes. Now who are you, and what are you doing in my room? I suggest you leave before I call security." Even in his own ears the threat sounded fake. Wouldn't he have screamed, or called them by now if he was going to?

 

Regardless, it caught the pale boy's attention, because he raised his hands in caution, and backed towards the window a few steps. "No need for that. I'm Jack. I've been sent here to help you out Pitch."

 

Koz's eyes widened. Just what was going on that some freak with wings wanted to break into his brother's room? "Help how?" he asked, growing more skeptical by the second. Despite the evidence otherwise, Koz was somehow sure this wasn't a dream. He wasn't one to believe in the myths and fae creatures Pitch wrote about, but right now, he believed in this 'Jack'.

 

Jack's wings flopped, and his face fell in exasperation. He ran a hand over his face, and ended up ruffling it through his hair, making it stand impossibly on end. "Would you believe me if I said I needed you to be asleep to show you?"

 

Koz froze. He'd moved down the hall from Pitch for a reason, and that reason had to do a lot with the same feeling he got from Jack and Pitch. He shook his head, and Jack ran his hand through his hair again. "Fair enough. I'd be a little freaked out if someone broke into my room too."

 

"Someone with wings," Koz made a point to add, and gestured to the feathered monstrosities behind Jack. Folded as they were to save space in the room, the way they twitched made Koz believe that they'd much rather be spread, even if that meant breaking everything in his room. "So, what is that about? You want me to believe you're some kind of angel?"

 

Jack had flinched a bit at the mention of his wings, and had begun to pet them, as if that might keep them safe. From what, Koz had no idea, but it was clear then that Jack was in that same place between discomfort and fear that he was in. "Call it a type of subdivision. You won't see me in a toga, playing music on golden instruments any time soon, but I still like to think my job honestly helps people." Despite the fear, Jack was still able to smile and joke. "I help out individuals in distress, and stay with them until we manage to get through their trouble. No one's seen me before though," he admitted, " _Usually_  they're asleep." The way Jack looked at him reminded him of what other parents telling their kids to go to bed might look like. He and Pitch hadn't had that since they scared their last nanny off around age ten.

 

"How are you supposed to help people out with anything if they're asleep?" What Koz really wanted to ask was what kind of distress Pitch could be going through. _He_  was the one that had to deal with an obsessed twin that thought they were the same person, and therefore should be sleeping together. _He_  had to deal with Pitch's apparent lacking acceptance of social norms.

 

"Through dreams," Jack replied, completely unaware of any of Koz's internal concerns. "People are less guarded and more honest there, so it's easier to help them based on what they really want and need. In some cases, I can also show people the best path to take to sort out those problems."

 

"So you're what? Some kind of Guardian Not-Quite-Angel?" Koz asked, skepticism still clear in his voice.

 

"Guardian. I like that. I'll have to pass that one on to the others." Jack seemed to be thinking aloud to himself at this point, and was probably completely unaware Koz could hear him mumble, "I would totally be the Guardian of Fun."

 

"Fun?" he raised an eyebrow in inquiry.

 

One of Jack's wings twitched more violently this time, and it actually did knock over one of his track trophies. Quick as a blink though, Jack dove in and caught it. The way he laughed sounded almost like an apology. "Let's just say I'm less about responsibility and hard work than I am about snowball fights and fun adventures." He laughed and put the trophy back up on the shelf. "Give me a toboggan and snow day over work any day of the year."

 

"Sounds like you really like winter. In that case, what are you doing here in the spring?" Jack continued patting his wings again, and Koz wondered if that was somehow calming then from lashing out and causing some real damage. They certainly looked like they would be big enough. Then again, this was beginning to feel like a dream, and realistically it had to be one.

 

"Tonight, working," Jack replied easily, no longer seeming as frightened as he had been before, "A guy does have to eat after all. And I guess you don't even know what a snow day is here, do you? They're so much fun! But even though winter is my favourite, I still get up to all kinds of trouble the rest of the year." Jack was grinning from ear to ear, and Kozmotis could just imagine Jack as the type of person causing all kinds of mischief at school. And he'd have that same bright grin even if he got caught.

 

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Koz was surprised to find he actually did want to know the answer. What did not-angels do in their spare time? More specifically, what did Jack do? He stocked it up to being a part of the dream, and how there was no harm in asking such things when he was going to wake up in a few hours anyway.

 

"Well, there's a Pooka I like to annoy down in Australia. Then there are all kinds of yeti up in the North Pole!" Jack went on for hours with tales about his friends and adventures all over the world. He even went over more mundane topics, like building snowmen in the Himalayas, and it all just made Kozmotis more curious. So he asked more questions and Jack went on, until Koz began to yawn every few minutes. Which was ridiculous, because this had to be a dream, but he was tired.

 

Eventually Jack caught him yawning behind his hand and laughed outright. "Sounds like it's time for you to go to sleep. I tell you what though, no Guardian dreams for you tonight. I'm just going to let you sleep normally tonight, and maybe tomorrow I can start helping you out. How does that sound Pitch?" Jack pushed Koz down into the bed, and tucked the sheets around him, and it was the most comforting thing anyone had done for him in a long time, and it wasn't even for him.

 

His eyes began to slip closed within the dream, and without knowing why, Koz knew that he wanted to be honest with Jack. Even if Jack was only a dream. Even if it meant Jack wouldn't be back to tell him about all his worldly adventures. "I'm not Pitch," he mumbled, falling asleep. He couldn't see Jack, but he imagined one of Jack's wings twitching in surprise again. "Pitch is down the hall."

 

When he didn't hear anything for a while, Koz was almost tempted to open his eyes, but at the same time, he was afraid Jack would already be gone. Before he had the chance to get over that fear though, a cold hand rested on top of his head and brushed his hair back. "Would you come back?" Koz asked quietly, "Even though I'm not the one you're meant to look after?"

 

"I think I can arrange something," Jack whispered back, a lot closer to his ear than Koz had previously assumed. "After all, it seems like Pitch isn't the only one needing guardianship. "Would you tell me your name though?"

 

He didn't remember saying the word, just mouthing the feel of his name, but just like that Koz fell asleep with a gentle hand in his hair and "Kozmotis" being whispered by someone else like it was precious.

 


	2. Acceptance is the Key

"Wrong twin this entire time, huh?" Jack said to himself once Kozmotis had passed out. He didn't feel  like the time had been wasted though. On the contrary, despite being _hungry_ , he felt a lot more fulfilled than his typical jobs left him. Something about just _talking_  to the kid had been...nice. And he felt like it had probably done something for the kid as well. He ruffled his hand through Kozmotis' hair one last time, then made his way over to the window. He still had to make his way to Pitch and deal with that tonight, but considering his work never really took that long anyway, Jack didn't see a reason he shouldn't be able to visit both twins and help them out separately.

 

He floated out the window, and closed it most of the way before flying past the other windows in search of the one most likely belonging to his actual target. He came across one with thick black drapes, and thought it looked a lot like the kind of curtains a teenager might use to block out the sun so they could sleep well into the afternoon. The window itself was difficult to pry up, but Jack liked to think of himself as a professional. So with a great deal of effort and even more profanity, he finally managed to jimmy the window open, and crawled in past the pitch black - Jack laughed a little at his joke - curtain.

 

As he had suspected, there in the middle of the heap that was probably a bed, was a face and body similar to the one he'd spent the last four hours chatting with. Thankfully, this time, the teenager in question was asleep, which made Jack's job that much easier. His eyes were practically luminescent in this dark. Stealthily, he came towards the bed, and leaned over the sleeping body, his hunger demanding to be satiated. "Now let's see how an Incubus like me can help little old you out Pitchiner Black," he whispered just before diving in to Pitch's mind to manipulate his dreams.

 

\---

 

Dream diving was always an odd experience. Sometimes you had to dive in and make a landing pad from nothing. Other times you had to deal with whatever the person's mind had already conjured and redirect the dream from there. This was always a trifle harder to do if the person in question was having a nightmare.

 

In the case of Pitch Black, it was just dizzying, because the only difference between where he'd dived in from and where he landed was the awareness that there was another bed and body across the room from him. Jack had landed gently enough on top of Pitch, using his wings to slow the fall, but apparently Pitch had been awake within his dreaming, just staring across his room at the other bed.

 

He thrashed when Jack landed, and despite the young man's slight frame, Jack actually had to use a fair bit of strength to keep the boy down. Too much sudden movement, and Pitch might actually wake up. "Shh, Shh. Calm down Pitch," Jack cooed, and ran gentle hands over the sides of Pitch's face. "I'm a friend. I'm here to help you. You're dreaming, but I need you to calm down." Pitch didn't seem that much calmer, but he wasn't moving about as much which was a plus.

 

"Who the hell are _you_?" Pitch demanded in a harsh whisper, and Jack could have laughed at how similar the twins were in their anger.

 

He smiled instead though, and replied, "You can call me Jack. I've been sent because as I understand it, you have some ideas of things you'd like to do, but no clue what you're actually doing, hm?" From his position on top of Pitch, Jack simply rocked his hips back and forth to get his point across.

 

"Not with _you_!" Pitch hissed, and tossed Jack off the bed. Jack was actually impressed, given the distance he rolled away. When he looked up though, he could see Pitch was blushing, which told him he was on the right track at least. Pitch was still a child though in comparison to Jack's hundreds of years, and Jack caught the way Pitch had quickly glanced to the figure on the bed Jack was now leaning against.

 

Jack sat up properly, and straightened his wings. He turned to where Pitch was staring, and presumably had been before Jack had shown up. Surprisingly enough, it was Kozmotis again. Jack had to blink a couple times, remembering that most humans didn't like their siblings in the way his services required, and almost all were sickened by the prospect. As an Incubus, Jack and his kind didn't particularly care one way or the other who a person wanted to sleep with, just that they could consume the lust filled energy from their dreaming.

 

Still, Jack had been at this job long enough to know how to guide someone into giving him what he wanted. He stood up, and pet a hand through Kozmotis' hair just to rile Pitch up. The boy looked very much like a bristling cat from his side of the room, which indicated to Jack that Pitch was the jealous type. A part of Jack wondered if this wouldn't be considered playing with his food.

 

Jack bent the dream then, so that Kozmotis was awake, and leaning into Jack's hand. All while Pitch was watching, Jack went through steps to make it look like he was coaxing Kozmotis into kissing him, accepting his advances, and eventually he had Pitch seeing his brother moaning while Jack sucked bruises into his brother's neck.

 

Without warning, and without stopping the illusion across the room, Jack popped up behind Pitch, and ran his hands up Pitch's, now very sensitive chest. It was delicious, but this wasn't nearly enough.

 

"I can do that to your brother," Jack whispered, and the fake Koz on the other bed moaned deeply while the fake Jack worked a hand down his pants. "I know you want to be able to do that," he kissed his way down the back of Pitch's neck and along to his jaw. The room in the dream got warmer, and Pitch's breathing got shorter. "I can teach you how." He slowly began to unbutton Pitch's pajama shirt, and worked his hands on actual skin, making Pitch's breath hitch. "Consider it like practice," Jack crooned, now heady and feeding, but not nearly satiated, "So you don't have to worry about getting anything wrong the first time."

 

When Jack stuck his actual hand down Pitch's pants, and grabbed his cock, the boy screamed, but it sounded a lot like "Yes!"

 

With that consent in hand, Jack's eyes glowed, and he grinned as he leaned in and whispered, "Then lets begin."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, this embarrassing example is why I don't write smut. It just ends badly for everyone and I am so sorry about this. I feel super awkward about this and most of my Pitch centric chapters to come. They were still fun to write however and I hope everyone looks forward to them as I do ^^
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions for how often I should update this? I currently have all of it written so I can update whenever, I'm just trying to space it out a bit so I don't run into the problem I usually have with my super long one shots.


	3. Through the Curtain

The next night, Jack floated lazily up to the window, and wasn't surprised to find Kozmotis still up at one in the morning. He tapped on the window and laughed at the way Koz had jumped. The boy looked like he was seeing a ghost for a moment, but he didn't say anything or try to slam the window shut when Jack creeped in.

 

"Hey Kozzy," Jack sang, as he swung both his legs in.

 

"Don't call me that," the young man insisted.

 

"Do I have to call you Kozmotis then? No offence man, but it's a bit of a mouthful," which suddenly gave Jack some ideas of what else he could teach Pitch about tonight.

 

After a while's hesitation, Kozmotis muttered, "You can call me Koz." Jack smiled, and he made a correction, "Only if you plan on visiting often though. Otherwise you might as well call me by my full name."

 

Jack nodded, and quietly padded over to the desk Koz was sitting at. "So, whatcha working on?" Jack glanced over the boy's shoulder, and saw what looked like a rough sketch of some person or another.

 

"Just some dumb homework for art class." Koz folded himself in half on top of it, and Jack could no longer see the picture. "I'm not much of an artist," he grumbled, and the thought made Jack sad.

 

"Well, I'm a bit of an artist, so just let me know if you even need help with your art homework, and I'd be glad to lend you my expertise," Jack offered, and then fell back on the bed. It was an odd way to lie down, and Jack wondered how humans could do it, even without wings. Hanging in branches and caves seemed much more practical. Beds were good for other things though.

 

"Sure," Koz mumbled and looked away. It was quiet for a bit between them, and Jack sat up on his elbows, wondering if Koz was normally this shy.

 

"So, tell me about your day then," Jack started, looking for something to talk about.

 

Koz looked startled again, and turned in his desk chair to look at Jack properly. For some reason Jack got the impression his new, young friends thought he was crazy. "It's not nearly as interesting as yours was probably," he hesitated. "I went to school early to...well I went early, then Pitch came and found me in homeroom, and he was more clingy than usual." Jack could understand that. He'd seen it before in response to the dreams he created. People wanted to prove to themselves that they weren't being unfaithful by dreaming of some otherworldly, winged stranger.

 

"So I spent most of the day dodging him after that. It was easier after school, because I had track and field practice. Rugby is cancelled tomorrow though, so no luck there." Jack cocked his head to the side, not quite understanding what Koz was saying.

 

"Why were you dodging your brother? Or don't you get along?" From what he could understand of Pitch's dream, Pitch _loved_  Koz, so it was a bit disturbing to see the feelings so emphatically unreciprocated.

 

"He's just..." Kozmotis paused again, and looked like he was struggling to find the appropriate thing to say. Jack personally thought the human version of what was 'appropriate' was overrated. Koz shook his head, and Jack was pretty sure that meant this wasn't a discussion to be had with someone he'd only met the night before.

 

"Kay, well what about the rest of school. Obviously you had art class," Jack nodded towards the piece of paper Koz had been hiding before. "What else?"

 

"Just classes," Koz replied slowly. "It's all kind of boring compared to what you told me about yesterday," he shrugged. "Mostly we did maths, science and history."

 

"Oh? And how do humans think history went?" Jack was sitting up, cross-legged now, and his eyes were eager. Kozmotis couldn't be sure if Jack was serious, but he leaned down and pulled out his school book anyway.

 

"We went over the Hundred Years' War." He pulled his book open and moved his chair across the room so Jack could see his notes.

 

"Oh, I remember that. It was a bad time to be in Europe," Jack leaned over to better read the small writing, although he already looked as if his mind was somewhere else. "So which part are you on?"

 

Koz wouldn't admit it, but history actually was his favourite subject, so he found he was having fun as he went over the different parts of history he had been learning. The wars were the best parts, and Jack made it hilarious when he set up little demonstration models in his room with the different knick-knacks and trophies. The not-angel boy also had his own bits to add.

 

It wasn't until the end of the night, when Jack began to clean up, and had put Koz into bed that the teenager asked, "How old are you anyway Jack?"

 

"Uhhhh, three hundred years, give or take?" Jack's feet were dangling out the window. Koz's jaw dropped at the same time Jack dropped out the window, laughing into the wind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much less embarrassing than the last chapter. Now I hope you can all recognize the pattern happening here. It'll be pretty consistent for a while yet. 
> 
> Thank you to those who reviewed last chapter! I will get back to you personally when I get the chance. For now, smile in knowing you made me blush (mostly because I attempted to write porn. I can't even SPELL porn without having to correct my typing every time). Also thank you for the suggestions on when to update. I'm currently playing with either doing it Tuesday and Thursday or else Mon-Wed-Fri. We shall see!


	4. You've Already Said Goodnight

Jack had been visiting both twins for about a month, and Jack liked to think he was doing well by both of them. Koz had opened up more, and seemed less hostile, although that might have had something to do with how they were no longer strangers, even if they were still meeting in the dead of night.

 

Pitch on the other hand was delightfully more confident. Tonight when Jack had dived in, Pitch had grinned up at him, and snatched him up and shown off his new talent in kissing. Never one to be shown up, Jack made sure to toss in a few new tricks that Pitch caught onto quickly enough. Tonight they were on a hill, and as always Koz was only a few metres away, even while Pitch rolled Jack over, ever eager to learn and show off what he already knew.

 

Jack would be the last person to complain, even if the position was awkward for his wings. He was keeping well fed in Pitch's dreams, and the constant presence of Koz, while marginally awkward at first, was a relief in it's own way. Incubi were constantly warned against forming attractions, and with Koz always in the background, Jack knew that Pitch, unconsciously or consciously, was trying to show off for Koz. Or it was possible that having the object of his attraction around was the only way to keep his interests 'up'.

 

"Someone's giddy. Did something happen?" Jack sang, as his fingers wandered up Pitch's arm.

 

Pitch was busy searching out the spot that Jack had mentioned that would make him moan no matter what. Unfortunately Jack was mostly ticklish along his ribs where Pitch was searching, and he had to work hard not to laugh during Pitch's inspection.

 

Pitch hummed, but eventually replied, "My brother came down with a cold." Jack knew this, and had seen it himself. That was why he had come to Pitch early, and had demanded Koz get some sleep. Jack gave Pitch a look demanding answers, and Pitch grinned when he ran his hand under Jack's left wing, and Jack, as promised, moaned in a way that ran through Pitch as well. "So he needs me to take care of him. He doesn't fight me so much when he's sick. I think it's because he knows we're meant to be one, and when he's sick, he's too busy fighting a cold to try and fight what he knows is true." Jack may have responded if Pitch hadn't run his hand under Jack's wing again. Damn sensitive spot.

  
With a grin, Jack flipped them over so he was on top, and exacted revenge by sucking on the scar on Pitch's hip. That always reduced Pitch to some kind of shivering mess, and given the way the same tremors always ran through the dream Kozmotis, Jack garnered it had something to do with the twin. "Try not to accidentally kill him then," Jack teased, and moved up Pitch's body to roll their hips together. "Now how about some riding lessons?" Jack put his fingers to Pitch's lips, and his student was more than willing to comply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies this is late, and my apologies that this is short. To compensate for both these problems, I will update twice tonight. Thank you everyone for your reviews and petience. I love you all very much ^^


	5. I Don't Know Why You're Being Shy

Months began to pass, and both the boys had time off school for the summer. Pitch insisted the heat was adding to his libido, and Jack only laughed at his choice of wording. Jack didn't contest it though, just as no sane person would fight away a meal that insisted on being eaten.

 

Unfortunately for Koz, during the day, with no classes or homework to distract either of them, it meant Pitch was more insistent in his advances. That combined with his new sexual confidence and curiosity meant Koz spent a great deal of time behind a locked door. In terms of Jack trying to help out Koz at the same time he was helping Pitch, he considered it taking two giant steps back.

 

"He said he wanted to go swimming. I told him that I hadn't gotten a new bathing suit this year, since I grew over the winter, and you know what he said? He said to swim naked!" Jack couldn't help laughing a little at the way Koz had said it. For all that Koz was most certainly the bulkier and 'manlier' of the twins, Jack found he certainly had the capacity to sound as scandalized as any teenage girl Jack knew. Koz didn't seem to mind, since he carried on with the story. "So, he says that it's nothing he hadn't seen before, and that the lot is private, so it hardly matters. Maybe if he'd left it there it would sound normal, but no, this is Pitch, and _nothing_  he says sounds normal. So he goes on to say that it would only be him _watching_! And he had the audacity to get offended when I locked him out of my room the rest of the day. I swear, I'm going to get one of those full body swimsuits like the ones they wore when photos were in black and white! _No_! I'm going to get one of those things people on skidoos wear!"

 

Jack was crying in the floor laughing at this point, and Koz was laughing right along with him. For all that Koz had actually been freaked out by Pitch's confrontation today, with Jack, everything became more relaxed and fun. It was nice, having Jack around. He was a constant, and he didn't seem to expect anything of Koz except that he might leave the window a little bit open to make breaking in easier.

 

Once their laughter died down into the occasional chuckle, and eventually reached a comfortable silence, Koz watched Jack fiddling with two trophies on the rug, and something profound clicked in his brain. "I don't think you're just a dream," Koz muttered, resting his head in the crook of his arms and lying down comfortably on the bed.

 

Jack looked up, trophies paused in mid-battle sequence, and looked up at Koz like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Carefully though, his shock dissolved, and was steadily replaced with a wide grin. "Thanks," Jack whispered, as if suddenly reminded it was late at night and they were meant to be quiet. To Koz it looked like Jack wanted to say more, but instead he just sat up and pecked a kiss onto Koz's cheek.

 

Kozmotis held the place where Jack had kissed like a brand, and burned bright fuchsia through his dark skin. Jack cocked his head to the side, which Koz had come to associate as Jack's 'What is this human behaviour you're doing and why?' look. This usually meant Jack didn't mean anything personally by what he did or said and was honestly confused. For the most part Jack got things right, but when it came to personal space and things like boundaries, Jack was a bit daft.

 

Once he'd felt his face cool down, Koz coughed and glanced away to try and think of an appropriate way to explain himself. "Ummm, I'm guessing you don't know that kissing is for couples then?" He tried to phrase it as a question, so he could almost play it off like he just wanted to discuss more about Jack's strange life and culture. He knew he didn't give nearly enough credit to the three hundred year old angel, but he wasn't about to say outright 'Blokes don't just kiss other blokes on the cheek unless they're dating.'

 

"Lots of non-couples kiss though," Jack held his hand out and began counting on his fingers. "Parents and children, friends greeting or saying goodbye, some will even kiss on the lips if they're really close, other kinds of family and really close friends."

 

Koz waved his hands about to cut Jack off. "Well, not here then," he tried to argue back. Suddenly Jack was close in his space though, and his wings were all around Koz. Jack had a serious look on his face for once as if he were appraising a part of Kozmotis, and most importantly, he was way too close!

 

When Jack spoke, he was close enough, and they were both confined within Jack's wings that Koz could feel the breath of the words on his own lips. "Are you uncomfortable with intimacy?" Jack asked this like it was the greatest blasphemy. He tried to shake his head no, but when Jack took his hand, he nearly fell backwards trying to seize it back. If Jack's wings hadn't caught him, Koz may very well have fallen head first off the end of the bed.

 

Jack took Koz's hand again, and Koz had to fight to just leave it well enough alone and let Jack do what he wanted. "Little friendly touches won't hurt you. I promise I wouldn't do that to you," Jack seemed to be talking to himself again, as he still did from time to time. Inside his mind was reeling and wondering if it might have been Pitch who did this to Koz. It had been obvious from what Koz told him that he was uncomfortable with Pitch coming on to him, but he never thought that Pitch had made it impossible for Koz to accept other touches. Jack shook his head and moved on to blaming the twins' parents. Too little touch in infancy, which both twins had expressed at some point, could also have a similar effect.

 

"You called me a guardian when we first met Koz. I haven't forgotten that. I promise I will honour that title, and I will keep you safe." Jack felt a little like one of the knights Koz had taught him about from medieval history, when he folded Koz's hand and kissed the knuckles. Koz was blushing again, but he didn't seem nearly so opposed to Jack's proximity as he had before. Jack smiled, and brought his wings back in, gently brushing against Koz's face with his feathers as he did so.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta daaaaaa! See, look! I can make good on promises sometimes!
> 
> And woop! Suddenly feelings and Jack becoming more aware of the twins and Koz's aversion to touch~ 8D I'm having such fun with this!


	6. Long Kiss Goodnight

That night when he landed in Pitch's dream, he found Pitch already in throes of passion with his imaginary Kozmotis, and Jack started to calculate ways that this would work out for all three of them.

 

For now, Jack was hungry, and he couldn't have an illusion eating up all that delicious lust. So he dove in, and as always, Jack bent the dream so that Koz was a few metres away. Jack didn't really need to teach Pitch anything, but a steady meal source was always a positive thing, and apparently there was more to be taught than Jack had initially thought.

 

Pitch had gotten used to this by now, and had teased Jack once or twice about being jealous. Jack had laughed then, and admitted that he was jealous, because someone else was devouring all the delicious lust Pitch had to give. Pitch of course had been curious and Jack confessed the obvious that he was an Incubus. He explained that as a job, he was to teach the 'sexually frustrated' to embrace their sexuality and to explore different types of sensual activities. He went on further to explain that as a means of living, Jack needed this to survive.

 

After that, Pitch had returned to sex with Jack with a renewed vigour. He accepted Jack removing Koz from the dream picture, because he knew Jack needed the nourishment, and he was Jack's main means of survival.

 

Tonight though, Pitch had other plans in mind. He'd seen Jack manipulate his dreams dozens of times, and had usually been too distracted to do anything about it. Tonight, he wanted to keep his head long enough to try something  that Jack would like.

 

While Jack busied himself with Pitch's body, Pitch glanced over the pale shoulder, and past the massive white wings to the one person he always had at mind. His eyes focused on the copy his mind made of his twin, and Koz turned back to look at him. They shared a look, like the ones they used to share before Koz had begun locking him out. Then he glanced down at Jack and both their eyes sparkled when their gazes met again. Kozmotis got the idea (of course he did. They were the same mind, body and soul after all), and crawled over behind Jack.

 

Jack was startled when another set of hands crawled up his back while Pitch's own hands explored Jack's front. He glanced over his shoulder, and was surprised to see Koz there. He didn't have too much time to think when Koz proceeded to torment him with bliss, and massaged the muscles underneath Jack's wings. He gasped as Pitch cheated and licked at his neck on one side, and his brother kissed along the other side.

 

He shivered and moaned between them, even as the twins pressed closer together. Jack was supposed to be thinking up a solution, but it looked like Pitch had been coming up with one of his own, and Jack could hardly complain, even later, when he was stretched much farther than he was sure he was meant to go.

 

By the morning, even Jack was tired.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I'm so far behind. This week decided to be crazy busy and so I have accomplished very little that I set out to accomplish on the weekend.
> 
> So pretty much all three chapters that were meant for this week are coming out tonight because I won't be available tomorrow night either.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed your horribly awkwardly written DP and Jack being the Master of Focus (NOT!) More in a few minutes for you lovely darlings. I hope everyone is enjoying this ^^
> 
> Mirella


	7. War Upon You

Jack disappeared for about a week after that.

 

Pitch had his own ideas about why, but wasn't about to go telling Koz about this strange, winged, dream boy that he had illicit affairs with. Then Koz might try to use that as argument against what they both instinctively knew to be true.

 

Koz on the other hand, had no idea what was going on. One day Jack was there saying he'd never hurt him, the next and the six following days, he was nowhere. He found himself laughing at the irony that just when he had begun to think Jack was more than a recurring dream, he disappeared.

 

Of course, Jack didn't give him too long to think he was a dream again, when he literally tumbled through the window, late in the night before school started up again. Jack was lucky it had been hot that week and Koz had had his window open for most of it. You wouldn't get the teen to ever admit that maybe he'd also hoped a wider window would provide a better invitation for Jack to come back. When Jack came back though, he somersaulted into the room and looked more dishevelled than usual.

 

"Jack!" Koz jumped off the bed and quickly made his way over to where Jack had landed. Jack looked a little dazed as he looked around and got his bearings. "Are you okay? Where were you all week?" Jack finally managed to focus on the teen kneeling in front of him.

 

"Yeah," Jack replied quietly at first, but then coughed and tried again. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just been hectic back home, and everyone's had to deal with shit." Jack started coughing again, and Koz awkwardly positioned himself to try and rub Jack's back. From his new position, Koz noticed a sheath on Jack's hip, and his eyes widened at the shock of Jack carrying a weapon.

 

When Jack's coughs settled down again, Jack followed Koz's line of sight, and he pulled a knife out from the sheath to show Koz. Koz took it, and turned it around in his hands, but the idea of Jack who made pretend wars out of his old toys having a weapon still didn't make sense. "Normally I'd carry a staff, but my friends and higher ups insisted on something else for now."

 

"Why do you need a weapon Jack?" Kozmotis asked, almost certain he didn't actually want to know the answer.

 

Jack stared him right in the eyes, and Koz had to wonder if he'd ever get over just _how_  blue Jack's eyes were. They were such a contrast to everything else about Jack which was all pale and white. "I just want to let you know first that I promise I'm not going to let any of this hurt you."

 

"Jack," Koz insisted, when it sounded like Jack was trying to put off answering properly.

 

"It's stupid, but...you remember how I said I was a denomination? Well, other similar winged denominations have gotten it into their heads that some groups are better than others."  Jack was chewing on the inside of his cheek, and at this point Koz thought he knew Jack well enough to know what that meant.

 

"What aren't you saying Jack?" He hated how scared he sounded. He wanted to sound brave, and calm, especially since Jack didn't seem all too concerned.

 

Jack rolled his shoulders and his wings fluttered out a bit and nudged Koz gently. "No one's said anything official yet, but people are saying there may be a war coming up." At Kozmotis' frightened stare, Jack laughed a bit. "Don't worry about it. It's just the Cupids stirring up trouble again. They do this every couple of decades or so. Everyone just carries a weapon to keep safe, and the higher ups explain _again_  that all the different winged creatures are necessary. Then another treaty is made and everyone flies happy again." Jack ruffled a hand through Koz's hair, and smiled in reassurance.

 

Koz didn't feel very well reassured, so he took Jack's hand from his hair and held it in both of his hands. Part of him wanted to tell Jack to keep out of trouble. They had enough spare rooms he was sure Jack could stay, and he would be safe that way. He also wished in that moment that he was bigger so he could protect Jack. He was still waiting on a proper growth spurt, given how tall his father was.

 

Instead of saying any of this though, he asked instead, "What is it about you that the Cupids don't like?" It sounded weird in his own ears, and the image of evil cherubs with red eyes and poison tipped heart arrows made it hard to take things seriously at all. He needed to know though. Maybe if he knew why evil baby angels wanted to hurt Jack, he could help think up a strategy to prevent future attacks. He knew enough strategy from history and his military games, he was sure he could think of something.

 

Jack was chewing the inside of his cheek again, but he didn't take as long to answer. "They think of love as a pure, light-hearted, beautiful thing. I'm not saying it's not, but it's a pretty bland definition considering my people live off of the more physical forms of love."

 

"What?"

 

Jack and Koz stared at each other for a few moments in confusion before it finally clicked for Jack. Koz still didn’t know. Pitch was the twin he had revealed everything to. About his being an Incubus. About his real reason for coming to the house every night. Now Jack had just fumbled and he didn’t know what to do. He felt...not dirty...he wasn’t ashamed of what he was. Guilty was probably the best word to describe the pit in his stomach. He felt guilty about leading Koz to believe he was something he wasn’t. True, he’d taken to the role of “Guardian” that Koz had mistakenly assigned him the first night they met, but he was still an Incubus, and he hadn’t been entirely truthful about that.

 

Pitch had taken the news alright, but to him it must have been obvious.

 

Jack knew that for Koz - Koz who was frightened of even the gentlest touches - his being an Incubus would be a hurtful betrayal.

 

The silence between them had stretched on too long for Kozmotis to not be suspicious. “What do you mean by that Jack? What kind of creature lives off of ‘physical forms of love’? What does that even mean?”

 

Jack took a few, slightly panicked, breaths to try and think. It wasn’t his strong suit by a long shot, but he needed to deal with this tactfully. Most of all, he needed to deal with this truthfully. Koz deserved at least that much. “Listen,” Jack paused, still trying and failing to think up the right thing to say. “I’m sorry. Let me explain.”

 

“Explain what Jack? What? Were you here this entire time to try and- and seduce me or something? _Don’t touch me!_ ” he hissed when Jack reached out a hand to try and calm Kozmotis down. Koz seemed to have filled in the blanks himself on what Jack meant. He couldn’t be sure how accurately those blanks were filled in, but just as Jack had guessed, Koz was not happy with this truth.

 

“No!” Jack interrupted, and couldn’t get any closer with the way Koz was flailing his limbs about. “I had no intention of doing anything to you!” Jack shouted back, no longer concerned about keeping his voice down as he always had been. He was bruised, tired,  _starving_ , and he just wanted Koz to understand what he was without freaking out.

 

“Is that why you started getting so touchy-feely? Because you ‘had no intention of doing anything’? No Jack! Get out!” Apparently Koz was also no longer concerned with the unspoken, and unwritten rule to keep quiet.

 

“Just listen!” Jack tried to shout back, as Koz hefted him up and started to shove him to the window. “No! I can’t go out there yet!” Jack panicked, and tried to turn around and look for his knife. His wings fluttered out and knocked things over in an attempt to slow Koz down. It didn’t work too well once they reached the window, and Jack was left with the choice to either fold his wings in and go out the window normally, or else hurt himself or Koz by fighting. “Please Koz,” he pleaded, one last attempt. “You’re my friend! I would never hurt you.” He tumbled out the window as painfully and gracelessly as he’d tumbled in, and for the first time, he heard the window slam shut.

 

Jack could only hang on to the windowsill.

 

He was just so tired.

 

He never meant for any of this to happen.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well shit. Guess who forgot that the angst happened so soon?
> 
> ME!
> 
> I considered being nice and combining this with the next chapter, so that you could have a third chapter out tonight with some answers, but then I thought "Why not add to the pain of the cliffhanger, by making it last at least until next Monday?" So that's what's happening!
> 
> I swear, I really do love all of you.
> 
> Also, I love mixing canon in, as you all probably saw from the scene that's like the Easter scene but not. I thought it was fun!
> 
> Mirella


	8. Kiss the Demons Out of My Dreams

Once he had built up his strength again, and was sure the coast was clear, Jack flew over to Pitch’s window. It was thankfully open as always. Jack hadn’t asked Pitch about that, because Pitch only ever saw him in his dreams, but Jack had a feeling Pitch kept it that way for the dramatic way the wind fluttered in his heavy, black curtain. Jack barely made it to the bed before he collapsed again. Hungry as he was, Jack wasn’t sure he could survive diving into whatever dreams Pitch was having right now. He would probably just end up crashing.

 

He could survive crashing into Pitch’s bed with the young man for a while though. Jack assured himself that if he could just rest for a while, that everything would be okay in the morning. He wasn’t even fully aware of himself as he crawled under the strange, and unfamiliar covers. Jack was almost asleep, when he realised Pitch was not. He blinked his eyes open a few times, and saw familiar gold ones staring at him. Rather than assuring Pitch this was all a dream, or taking advantage of an awake meal, Jack just snuggled closer, and burrowed his face into Pitch’s hair. “Class is cancelled today,” he mumbled, and closed his eyes again, sure Pitch would shortly follow suit and once more presume this to be a dream like all the rest.

 

“Goodnight Jack.” That was the last thing Jack heard before falling asleep with the feeling of arms wrapped around him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> World's shortest chapter.
> 
> I didn't want to change it though, just because I felt it bears so much significance to everything. TO Jack, to Pitch, to the relationships they're all developing. I hope you all understand (and squeal over tired sleepy cuddles as much as I do)
> 
> I will see all you lovely people next week! I love you!
> 
> Mirella


	9. Intercepted

The previous night had given Jack some ideas on how he could improve Pitch and Koz's relationship. He may have fucked up with Koz, but that didn't mean he couldn't still help the young man out. It would mean he would eat less, and now may not have been the best time for a diet, but Jack still felt this was something he needed to do.

 

That night, he didn't even bother trying Koz's window. It was obviously shut, the blinds were drawn and the light was off. Instead, he swooped straight to Pitch's room and was glad to find him asleep. He'd been going to visit Koz first for so long that he didn't even know when Pitch normally went to sleep. He crept in quietly, and slipped straight into Pitch's dream.

 

As was the norm between them now, Pitch was expecting him. Jack waved from the air, and landed gently on the beach. It was odd to find Pitch in such a sunny place. It was almost always night, or dark or raining in Pitch's dreams, but this one seemed...tropical. Jack took a look around before walking over to Pitch's small area of shade. Sure enough, Koz was there, swimming laps in the ocean.

Instead of feeling sad, like he thought he would, Jack couldn't help smiling. It was nice to see Koz in what looked like his element. He didn't know personally, but Pitch knew his brother very well, and Jack trusted Pitch.

 

The sand was hot on Jack's bare feet, so he opted to fly the rest of the way over. Pitch watched him like he was seeing Jack for the first time, and rather than hiding in the shade, he stood and came out to meet Jack on the edge of the veranda. "I never pinned you for a beach person. What's all this?" Jack grinned as he landed at the bottom of the porch stairs. He was still far enough away that he wouldn't get distracted from his mission here tonight.

 

"It's our family's summer home," Pitch replied slowly, as if he had to think through it all very carefully. Jack's wings provided some shade, but not enough for Pitch to willingly step completely into the sun. "We used to come here every summer when we were little, but Koz said no this year, and our parents weren't around much to make him go. He said there was no point if I was just going to brood inside all day, and that I could do that just as easily at home where there were things he could do besides swim at the beach."

 

Jack could have said a lot of things. He could have remarked how much Pitch really did love his brother based on how Kozmotis was always the clearest part of Pitch's dreams, or how it was unfortunate he didn't get to see their summer home in the real world, or that even in his dream, Pitch was burning really quickly. In dreams, Jack had all the time in the world at his whims to say this. Instead, Jack took Pitch's hand and stepped in closer to the shade. "Why don't I teach you how to wine and dine him then?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's just pretend I never promised any kind of regular update schedule and accept that I update this when I have time, energy and basically remember to >.


	10. More Careful

Pitch had been hesitant when Jack's lessons had taken their sudden turn. Rather than sex the entire time, Jack was taking the time to show Pitch less physical ways of being with Koz.

 

"But we're _meant_  to be together! He should just _see_  that!" Pitch threw his hands in the air, eternally frustrated with Jack's crossed legs and smug grin. Even while Jack was starving, Pitch still managed to act like he was the one who might die from the enforced celibacy.

 

"That's all rather nice in theory, but it doesn't mean your brother is just going to open his legs for you right off the bat. No, I'd say Koz is more likely to demand subtlety. He also probably wants some kind of committed relationship before you bang, so you have to play it smart. You've gotta start small and work your way up if you want Koz to acknowledge _and_  accept that you're meant to be one." Jack wasn't sure how much he believed of Pitch's theory that him and Koz, as twins were soul bonded or whatever, but he was willing to play along if it helped him get his point across.

 

"I'm nothing but committed! I belong to no one but Koz! We belong to each other." Pitch was very insistent on this point. Had been since the beginning.

 

It took a great deal of Jack's patience not to sigh at Pitch's dramatics or groan at his stubbornness. Instead, he put a hand on his stomach, and reached his other hand out to Pitch. "C'mon then. If Koz means so much to you, then surely you can practice some restraint. Now show me what you've learned." Jack's eyes dared Pitch. Even with less of their usual glow, they could still express every taunt and bit of mischief Jack was up to.

 

Grumbling, Pitch took Jack's offered hand and pulled himself in closer so they were sitting side by side. Jack smiled and rewarded Pitch by leaning his head on the young man's shoulder. "Now was that so difficult?" he asked and closed his eyes. He really could fall asleep at this point.

 

Pitch responded by throwing a blanket over them. Jack smirked, knowing there hadn't been a blanket anywhere nearby when he'd closed his eyes. He opened them again and found himself sitting in bed with Pitch. Jack snorted, wondering if subtlety really was a lost cause on Pitch who was always so obvious with his feelings.

 

“I know it’s frustrating,” Jack breathed out slowly, still trying his hardest to ignore his stomach, and hoping it wouldn’t growl and interrupt what he thought was a very important lesson. “But you have to take it slow. Sex is just in, out, done. That’s why you can forgive yourself for sleeping with me, because it doesn’t mean anything.” With his eyes still shut, Jack couldn’t see how Pitch reacted to that particular statement, but he assumed it was similar to when they had first entered their agreement. This was a mutually beneficial contract, and nothing more. “Intimacy though- Intimacy is so much more than just sex. To be truly intimate with Koz, you have to learn again what it means to just be _with_  him. To have no motivation for being close, other than being close. Then you work your way up like all other relationships, with hand holding, hugging, kissing, Valentines, and the whole kit and caboodle. Sex is something you should both be ready for, and the only way to get there is through patience, hard work, and agreement on both your sides.”

 

It was a long speech, and Jack was even more tired by the end of it, but he was glad he’d gotten the chance to say it. He could feel himself dozing off, and hoped Pitch wasn’t the sort to care about “professionalism” or some other human notion that really shouldn’t be applied to Jack and his line of work. If he had been any further gone, he may have missed the quiet words Pitch said.

 

“Are you leaving soon?”

 

Jack startled right awake at that. “What? Why would you think that?” He turned so he was properly facing Pitch, while still holding his hand.

 

“It’s just…” Pitch looked away. Pitch was always filled so much energy and certainty in himself, that Jack sometimes forgot just how insecure the young man could be. “You’ve changed the lessons, and it’s like you’ve run out of things to teach me now. It just feels like you’re going away.”

 

“Hey,” Jack held Pitch’s face so he could angle it towards him. “Don’t forget I still need you. I might not be around forever, but just because I’ve taught you a lot, does /not/ mean I’ve taught you everything. Plus, you’re still completely hopeless, so until I get you and Koz at least _started_ , you’re stuck with me.” Jack winked, and managed to get a small chuckle out of Pitch.

 

“Even once Koz accepts that we’re meant for each other, I think I’d still like you to come back. We could share you know. So long as Koz was still mine, and I was still his, I think we could both handle you being ours.” Jack chuckled, while Pitch nuzzled into his neck. Wouldn’t that just be something?

 

“I don’t think your brother would be much of the sharing type,” Jack laughed off Pitch’s proposal like the insane idea it was. Then, more quietly he added, “He certainly doesn’t seem like the forgiving type.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed this week's lesson on consent and pacing relationships appropriately according to an Incubus.
> 
> Jack is so sleepy. Be sure to send Jack lots of kisses to at least keep him awake for the next few chapters. Or maybe I'll let him take a nap. 
> 
> ~Mirella


	11. Lies That You're Making

Their new lessons carried on for quite some time. It was about two lessons of proper relationship procedure to every one of Jack’s feedings, and increasing time between Jack’s visits at all. Thankfully in Pitch’s dreams Jack could cover up the bruises and cuts of his physical form. No one was saying anything yet, but the attacks, ambushes and skirmishes were beginning to look more and more like war. Jack wouldn’t worry Pitch with things he didn’t need to know about however.

 

Especially not when Pitch kept coming back brighter than ever with better news every week. They’d gone to the movies with some of Kozmotis’ teammates after a game. Even though sports bored Pitch to no end, he had started going to Koz’s games, because it was something Koz enjoyed. He’d convinced Koz that they should start doing homework together again, because Kozmotis sucked at art and English, and Pitch wasn’t very good at history, and they were both rubbish at math, but they somehow figured it out together. Over all, it sounded like Koz was opening up to his brother again. Just a little bit at a time.

 

That all came to an abrupt end one night. It was supposed to be Jack’s one night to eat per week, but he could tell right away, from the morose atmosphere and Pitch’s expression that something had happened, and he probably wouldn’t be eating this week.

 

He gracelessly fell next to Pitch, just a little wobbly on his feet. Pitch looked up briefly, but only sighed in the way that meant he didn’t want to talk about it, but he actually wanted to go on a dramatic rant about the entire thing. Jack nudged him with a wing and pulled him in close. “Tell me what happened.” There was no beating around the bush between them, and Jack thought Pitch liked that part about his Incubus guardian.

 

As Jack had predicted, once the floodgates opened, there was no stopping the tirade that came from Pitch.

 

“Things were going so _well_! Things were perfect in fact! Of course our parents just had to come home and ruin everything though! They’re never around, so why should they stick their noses into things that don’t concern them? Koz had stopped locking his door and everything, then they showed up and started asking questions. ‘Oh, how’s school going boys?’” Pitch whined in what was probably supposed to be an imitation of his parents. “‘You’re working on homework together? How _quaint_! You two are certainly close. What do you do with your friends? Oh you both do things with your friends together? My goodness, you must get sick of each other sometimes!’ I told them _no_ , we didn’t get sick of each other! We’re twins. We’ve always been together and we always would be, and now Koz has shut himself in again. It just got worse tonight, because they took us out to supper before they left, and they asked why Kozmotis looked so down! Of course he’d feel down! They just took all their standards, and rules, and shoved him back into their pretty little box! So, he has to give them a story, because he can’t just say that they’re trying to force him into a shape he’s just not meant to fit! He came up with this really really brilliant story about not seeing a friend in a while, and even fooled our parents into believing his friend had been conscripted. I didn’t say anything of course. I wanted to though! I wanted to tell our parents _e_ _xactly_  what was wrong!”

 

Everything after that sort of faded, as Jack took in the part about the missing friend. It was probably too much to hope for, but-

 

But Pitch was right, that they couldn’t possibly know anyone old enough to get conscripted, and his last conversation with Koz had been about the upcoming war…

 

Maybe he would sneak in just a small visit tonight. Just to see how Koz was doing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's a bit more on Jack's eating. It's not good, but at least he's eating at all my lovely commentators and readers! And yes, I am ramping up the angst again! This will be another fun one, but there is hope for happiness on the horizon! Stay tuned!
> 
> Mirella


	12. All Your Love

Jack wasn’t all that surprised that Koz was asleep by the time he got to his room. After all, he had normally gone to Koz first, before when they had been friends, and he hadn’t changed his hours with Pitch, just in case Pitch stayed up as late as his brother normally did. Breaking in hadn’t been all that difficult, even if Jack felt guilty about doing it at all. He suspected with Autumn setting in now that he would have to start jimmying the windows more than he had in the Spring and Summer.

 

Or maybe he would be too busy soon to be breaking into either twin’s room.

 

He slipped into Kozmotis’ room as quietly as he could, and took a moment to think over his next move. Koz was asleep, so it wasn’t like he could just wake the boy up and say “Hey, the friend you told your parents about that got conscripted was me right?” Nevermind how awkward it would be that he knew Koz had said that at all. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he should be making this visit in the first place, but he was here now, and he should come up with something quickly before the sun came up.

 

The truth was, he knew exactly how he could talk to the young man without waking him up, but the idea made him about as uncomfortable as breaking in had in the first place. It felt like it would be violating Koz’s already broken trust somehow, diving into his dreams. Dreams were where people were the most honest, and Jack had wanted Kozmotis to open up to him freely, rather than just him prying the boy open with a crowbar. Still, he knew Koz wouldn’t accept him back so immediately if he just showed up tomorrow night and tried to act like nothing had happened. Maybe a little bit of truth was what was needed to gain Koz’s trust back.

 

Jack didn’t know. He didn’t know if diving into Koz’s dreams after their fight was a good thing or not. He didn’t know if Koz missed him at all, or if he had just lied to his parents to get them off his back about him rebuilding his relationship with his brother.

 

He didn’t know.

 

But he dived anyway.

 

Jack could honestly say he was not expecting what he came into. He almost fell when he realized what he was seeing, and he had to double check his memory that he had in fact flown into Koz’s dream, from Koz’s room, and hadn’t somehow gotten him mixed up with Pitch.

 

There, out in the open, on top of the bleachers of what was probably the twins’ school, Koz and Pitch were going at it. Jack had seen the image a hundred times before in all means of positions and locations, but there was something about this dream in particular that made Jack double take. It was next to a sports field, there was light all around from the sun shining on the boys, and it looked like Koz was very much in charge of things from what Jack could see. All this and more indicated that this was very much Koz’s wet dream, and not one of Pitch’s usual, dramatic fantasies.

 

Jack considered flying right back out, and never talking about this again. He didn’t want to stir things that he had no place in. Unfortunately, his stomach had other plans. It had been too long since he had eaten, and such a delicious and inviting meal was on full display right before him. Jack blushed bright red at the loud growl his stomach made. Apparently it was loud enough to catch Koz’s attention, even though with Pitch laid out on Koz’s sport coat, and with his legs twisted up above Koz’s shoulders, he should have been too distracted to notice little old Jack staring from the sidelines. Koz immediately froze, but the dream itself was telling from the way dream Pitch leaned up to continue sucking on Kozmotis’ neck.

 

That seemed to bring Koz to reality about just what was happening, and what he and Pitch had been doing, and- “Is this your sick idea of a joke?” he screamed at Jack.

 

Jack quietly flew over, and sat next to him on the next bleacher up. “No,” Jack shook his head, unsure about everything happening and how he should be reacting. This was a lot more than he had anticipated when he dove into Koz’s dream. It looked like Koz was about to argue that something like this could only be Jack, when Jack interrupted. “I'm not doing this. There would be no point. Dreams like this are only useful to me if I’m the subject of the dreamer’s attentions. And in this case, I’m certainly not,” he said, looking down at the dream Pitch, who was slowing down with Koz distracted.

 

Koz’s breathing got harder as he took in everything Jack had said, and realized the implications. He looked like he was about to be sick, so Jack took pity on him, and put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here,” Jack whispered, and flew them into Koz’s room, or at least, what Jack could recreate of it. It was something familiar for both of them, and probably provided some kind of neutral ground. That was what Jack hoped anyway, as he bent the world around them. “Better?” he asked, settling Koz onto his bed, and trying to ascertain from his expression if he should maybe make a bucket for Koz to puke into.

 

A few deep breaths later, and Koz nodded. Jack slowly retracted his hand, and began to think that maybe this had been a bad idea. Before his hand got too far away though, Koz grabbed it and put it back on his shoulder. Jack didn’t question him, just left it there, surprised by how warm Koz’s hand was on top of his.

 

“What was that?” Kozmotis eventually choked out, and of course he had to start with the hardest question for Jack to answer. “You said you had nothing to do with it, but you were able to bring us here. What’s going on?”

 

Jack bit his lip, and decided he might as well go for broke. He was too tired after the last month and a half to bother coming up with a better explanation than just the plain truth. “That was a wet dream. Incubi don’t really create dreams, we just bend them so that we’re the subject of the dreamer’s lust. Then, we feed off the energy, which is why it’s important for us to be participating in the dream. You’re still dreaming by the way, I just thought you might like somewhere more comfortable after that dream.” Jack looked away, but kept his hand on Koz’s shoulder and ran his thumb up and down in what he hoped was a comforting motion.

 

“So, now that we’re in my dream, does that mean you have to feed on me?” Jack looked back at Koz, and the boy looked so scared. He was so small, and it occurred to Jack just how young his friend was, even by human standards.

 

He shook his head again, but this time he was able to smile a little, just to offer what little comfort he could. “No. You don’t need my help there. I’m pretty sure you also really don’t want it, so I’ll be keeping my hands to myself. No, I just wanted to see how you were doing. I heard your parents came home and made a bit of a mess of things.”

 

Koz nodded, not bothering to ask how Jack knew. It was obvious that he’d heard it from Pitch, although Koz didn’t know exactly what Pitch had said on the matter, he could guess. “They just made everything seem so weird. Pitch has been acting more normal than he has been since we were kids, and they made it sound like what we were doing was dirty.”

 

“Glad to hear the lessons actually helped,” Jack snorted to himself. Part of him had doubted Pitch’s reports on things, but it was nice to hear that Pitch had in fact been acting what humans deemed ‘normal’.

 

“Lessons?” Koz asked, wary again, and Jack could feel him tense under his hand.

 

Jack sat down on the bed, next to Koz, too tired to stand up any longer. He rested his head on Koz’s shoulder, and let the dream drift. “I saw what he was doing to you. I remembered how frightened you were of just friendly little touches, and I realized Pitch didn’t know how to back off. He’s pretty intense,” Jack chuckled lightly, and even Koz laughed at that comment. “So I’ve been teaching him how to take things slow. He seems to think you should know…” Jack wasn’t sure if he should continue speaking. He wasn’t sure how much Koz already knew of Pitch’s obsession, or how much he could say without damaging everything between the two brothers.

 

“He thinks we’re meant to be one and the same. He thinks that he needs to love me more than brothers are supposed to and that we need to have sex to be that close.” Koz shuddered with the admission.

 

Ah. So Pitch had been as obvious with Koz as he had been with Jack.

 

“Yes.” Jack wasn’t going to deny what they both knew. He wasn’t going to lie to Koz anymore if he could help it. “Well, he seems to think you should already be together, but I told him that relationships are about taking things at a pace both people are comfortable with. So, I at least convinced him to take things slow, and let you set the pace. I may not get your weird human obsessions with what is and isn’t acceptable - I mean, if two people or however many people love and want each other, shouldn’t that be enough? - but if you don’t like Pitch that way,” Jack paused to look at Koz seriously. They both knew what Jack had seen from Koz’s own dream, but Jack wasn’t going to say anything. “Then that’s your call. You can be the one to let him down, but I could at least give you a chance to not be afraid of your own twin.”

 

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, and Jack opened his eyes properly to take in what had become of the dream they were in. There were stars everywhere, and Jack could tell they were high above the clouds. He wasn’t sure what they were meant to be sitting on, but that was one of Jack’s favourite parts of dreams, was how they didn’t require explanation. He closed his eyes again and let Koz take in their surroundings, and everything he had said about him and Pitch.

 

Maybe after all this, Jack would take the week off to sleep, he felt so exhausted. His mind drifted to all the things he’d like to do with some time off, and how he could go visit his other friends. He hadn’t seen Tooth in far too long, and North would probably fill him with at least ten fruit cakes if he came to visit the old man. His thoughts continued to drift away until Kozmotis gasped, bringing Jack back to reality again. Jack looked up tiredly to see what had shocked Koz this time.

 

Ah.

 

“Did you do that?” Koz asked in awe, looking at the sunrise below them, lighting up the sky in brilliant yellows and pinks.

 

“I think we both did,” Jack replied, and let Koz wake up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another long one with some intensity to it. Mostly just my dramatic flair~
> 
> But see? I said I would make things better? Kinda? Maybe?
> 
> This is for kazechama because of their really intense capslock review of "I WANT THE NEXT CHAPTER NOW!" Inducing fear is a good way of getting what you want. 
> 
> I've always liked the clouds scene in this one. I literally have a note in the original draft of this that says "And they go up in the sky because I want them to." That is pretty much the defining feature of my writing XD I hope everyone enjoyed this one, even despite more awkward almost-smut!
> 
> Mirella


	13. Let the Shadows Fall Behind You

The night after that, Jack snuck back to the Black house at the same time he used to, and was pleased to find Koz’s window just a little bit open, and the light was still on. Just to be cautious though, Jack tapped on the window first and waited for Koz to let him in. It didn’t take long at all for the window to be flung open and for Jack to crawl in. He smiled brightly up at Koz from his perch on the window sill, and the young man smiled back, and offered a hand to help Jack into the room. Jack had to admit it was a much nicer memory to have of the window than his last one, where he honestly thought he might die.

 

“How was your day?” Jack asked, feeling lighter than he had in a long time, and realized that maybe losing Koz had put a heavier weight on him than he had realized.

 

With that permission to proceed as normal, Koz went on a tirade about how awful school was, and how some of his teachers were nimrods, and his classmates were worse. He told Jack about how he had an assignment in art, and he’d somehow been put in charge of his group. Jack laughed and said it probably had something to do with his obvious leadership skills. Just like that, things were back to normal.

 

Of course nothing gold could stay.

 

Koz cleared his throat, after a particularly rude imitation of his science teacher and some goth girl in his class. Jack perked his head up from its resting place on the floor. Jack hadn’t bothered justifying his lying down so much, since most of what Koz told him had him on the ground laughing anyway. Still, Koz clearing his throat usually meant he had something serious to say. That had been confusing when Jack had been visiting Koz and the boy was sick.

 

“I thought about everything you said,” Koz began, and Jack nodded, wondering if he should sit up properly for this. “Not just last night, but before as well. First, I just wanted to thank you for your help with Pitch. I don’t like him the way he wants me to, but it’s been nice having him back as my brother. Even if it’s just him hoping I’ll catch on and grow to like him the same way he likes me, at least we can both pretend for now.” Koz had begun to mumble, so Jack took it upon himself to push himself into a sitting position so Koz would know he was listening and carry on. Jack wasn’t going to bring up the dream Koz had had last night. Maybe he had honestly forgotten about it, but more likely Koz just didn’t want to bring it up, and hoped if he ignored it long enough that he could pretend it never happened. “Also, what you said, that one time, when we were camped out in your wings,” Koz reached a hand out, almost instinctively for one of Jack’s wings, and Jack let him pet the white feathers gently. He kept stroking them while he spoke, “I would like to maybe keep learning how to love. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. So, if it’s okay, would you teach me what you’re teaching Pitch?”

 

Jack could have crowed with laughter. Oh, there was no way Koz actually knew what he was asking, but he was still glowing red under that delicious dark skin. Jack could see himself kissing at that blush and pinning Kozmotis to the bed to teach him just _what_  he and Pitch went over in their lessons. Instead, he let the suppressed laugh shake through his wings, and brushed up against Koz, like a cat insisting on more attention. “How about we start with something a little simpler?” Jack asked, and leaned in closer to Koz’s personal space. This close, Jack could hear Koz gulp, and the look on his face was hilarious. He just pecked the boy on one burning cheek, and dropped his head down so he was using Koz’s lap as a pillow.

 

“Have I told you about my best friend Tooth yet?” Jack asked casually, looking up to Koz’s bright red face smugly.

 

“The queen with all the mini helpers?” Koz asked around a gulp. No doubt he was aware just how close Jack was to his cock, and how easily this could turn into something very different.

 

“That’s the one! I don’t think I told you how we met! It was actually because of my uncle, except I didn’t know the guy was my uncle at the time. Anyway, he kidnapped me one day! Turned out him and Bunny were in on it together, because I had just been taunting Bunny when suddenly-” Koz listened attentively, and slowly convinced himself to put his hand in Jack’s hair. He was curious if it was as soft as Jack’s wings. It turned out it wasn’t. Much like the rest of Jack, it was cool to the touch, and it felt almost like it was held in place with ice, but he could still run his fingers through it. Jack didn’t stop his story, so Koz continued to pet Jack’s hair much like he had pet his wings. “So just as North is telling me that he’s my mom’s adopted older brother, and that he was on a mission to make a serious young man out of me, she sticks her _hands_  in my _mouth_! Well, the intervention pretty much fell apart after that because I decided to get revenge by tickling her, and out of all of that we all became friends. It took longer with Bunny because he already didn’t like me, but he eventually came around when I let him win an egg hiding contest. North already liked me because I was family, but I think he really liked me when I helped him make presents for a rush before Christmas.”

 

“Wait,” Koz stopped his hand for a second when something in his mind clicked. “Are you saying your uncle is Santa Claus?”

 

“Yep! Tooth you probably know as the Tooth Fairy, and Bunny is the Easter Bunny. Oh, and Sandy is the Sandman. They’re all a lot tougher than the stories you humans tell, but they still love kids as much, so your legends at least got that part right.” After that, Jack couldn’t get Koz to stop asking questions about all the legends and stories he had growing up. Jack had an answer for just about all of them, and eventually they found themselves lying down face to face, holding hands, and Koz kept one hand on Jack’s neck until he eventually passed out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE AGAIN ALREADY BECAUSE I'M IN A GOOD MOOD AND AVOIDING JOB APPLICATIONS! (seriously, if anyone knows a job that needs filling, hit me up. I will move anywhere but America.)
> 
> Sorry I'm behind on replying to reviews! I promise to get on that once the job applications are done (there has to be SOME order to the procrastination after all). Much love to all!
> 
> Mirella


	14. Keep Your Eyes on Me

Whenever Jack could manage to come over, he continued his lessons of making Koz more comfortable with physical affection. They always started awkwardly, or with Koz trying to squirm away, but Jack would tell him stories to calm him down, and paired together Kozmotis became more accepting of Jack's light touches.  
  
What was especially cute, Jack found, was when Koz asked to learn something in particular. It always came as a surprise to Jack, and he would laugh at some of the requests, but he always promised, "I'll put it on my list."   
  
One night, the two of them had actually turned the lights off and had snuck the door open. Koz had been talking about his chin lift bar being too short now, and Jack asked to see it. Sure enough, Jack compared the height of the bar in the doorway, and Koz was definitely taller now that Jack looked closely.  
  
"You know, if you didn't have to leave the door open to use this, we could totally have a sleepover, and I could hang from this to sleep." Jack jumped and pulled himself up, flipping over and slipping his legs between the bar and the door frame. "Ta da!" he whispered, and laughed when Koz tried to shush him.  
  
Both of them were laughing too hard to really be quiet, but thankfully Pitch slept like a rock. Jack had curled in with laughter and didn't even notice how close Koz had gotten until the teen was holding his face still. Jack was about to ask what was up with the intense look on Koz's face, when Koz asked him a question first. "Teach me how to kiss?"  
  
Jack couldn't help but smile at the request, and he laughed, swinging forward to peck Koz on the nose. "I'll add it to my li-" he whispered, but Koz cut him off insistently. It was more of an awkward crush of lips than a kiss, and it was especially weird upside down. But if this was how Koz wanted it, then Jack wasn't about to disappoint. He took Koz's face in his hands, and made the boy look at him. Jack's eyes glowed with the promise of feeding, he tilted his head, and showed Koz what a proper kiss was made of.

 

He started the kiss off gently, pressing their lips together, and finding the angle at which they both fit. His hands drifted down from Koz’s face, to behind the boy’s neck, and pulled him in closer. He directed the boy, and took breaks from his lips to kiss along Koz’s face, and allowed him to breathe. Jack needed air, but in less great quantities compared to humans. He kept the pattern of kissing Koz’s lips, and then the rest of his face going for a while, but changed things up when he tried licking against Koz’s lips instead. It was the traditional way of asking permission to enter, and Jack was sure Koz would appreciate the time he took to teach the boy proper tradition. He smiled as permission was granted after the second lick, and then he retreated, before things could go too far. “Wow. You were right. You really do need teaching, that was terrible.”

 

Jack laughed as Koz pushed at his chest, and he rocked back and forth in the doorway, while Koz mumbled to himself about the idea looking cool in one of his friend’s comics. That only made Jack laugh harder, but he convinced Koz eventually to help him down and to just snuggle for the rest of the night until Jack had to go.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN!!! I was so excited for so long to write this goober filled chapter of fluff! I honestly looked through all my writing of this story and was like "This isn't strictly necessary AT ALL...but I WANT IT!" So you get adorable Spiderman kisses in the doorway~
> 
> Sorry again this took so long, and thank you for reminding me Kazechama.  
> I should catch up on a lot of things I've forgotten...like supper...I hope everyone enjoyed this! Have an awesome day and don't forget to eat!
> 
> Mirella


	15. Ignite

While Jack could cover his bruises and cuts in Pitch’s dreams, he couldn’t hide as easily from Koz what was happening. Unfortunately for Jack, Koz was a bright kid who understood what it all meant. In the mornings, Koz would always pull out the knife he had taken from Jack, and would tell himself he needed to give it back. “I’ll do it tonight. This time for sure!” he told himself every day. He thought of all the ways he would do it. He could bring up that Jack didn’t look good, then give it back and tell Jack to take better care of himself. He could offer the knife back, but then offer Jack one of the guest rooms in his house, so he wouldn’t actually have to use it. He thought about just leaving it out for Jack to take, but he never actually did any of these things. He just kept it hidden under his mattress, and pulled it out every day as proof that Jack was real.

 

One evening he had pulled it out to look at, and he must have been looking at it for longer than he thought, because suddenly there was a knocking sound, and Koz had to scramble to put it under his pillow. He automatically went to the window and was surprised when no one was there. Then he heard the knock again, and realized it was his door, and not his window. He walked over, and unlocked the door to let Pitch in. “Hey,” he greeted, acting like they were normal brothers.

 

“Hi,” Pitch replied quietly, and seemed to be hesitating to ask something. Kozmotis just waited for him to get it out. He had learned not to prompt anything from Pitch, because it always had a tendency to end badly. After quite some time, Pitch finally lifted his head to ask, “Would you like to go out for dinner?”

 

Koz was surprised. That actually sounded nice. Maybe Jack was having a positive influence on his brother after all. The thought of Jack made him turn his head back to the window again. He didn’t want to miss Jack, since the not-angel didn’t come by as much lately anyway. It was still early yet though. “Sure,” Koz replied slowly, and turned back to Pitch. “Let’s just not be out too late. I still have a lot of homework to finish.”

 

“Of course,” Pitch smiled, and steered his brother by the shoulder. “Are you having any more trouble in English I can help you with?”

 

Pitch took him out to a nice Mexican restaurant, and unfortunately both of them were out much later than they had intended. On the entire taxi ride home Koz had been nodding off, and he even fell asleep on Pitch for part of the ride. He was only aware of it, because when they stopped in front of their house, Pitch caught him by the head so he didn’t fall off. At that point he was too tired to bother being embarrassed. Because Pitch had paid for dinner, Koz fished his wallet out for the driver, and handed him more than he probably needed to.

 

Really, he just wanted his bed. Pitch helped him up to his room, and the last thing Koz remembered was asking Pitch to leave his window open for the angels.

 

The next thing he was aware of was a loud crash, and glass and splinters flying everywhere. Responding automatically, Koz sat up, and grabbed the knife to defend himself. He stared at the heap on his floor with wide eyes, and it took his sleep fogged mind a minute to realize the groaning mess was Jack. It was hard to tell, because Jack blended in too well with the dark, whereas normally the boy was glowing.

 

He only realized it at all because glowing bright blue eyes turned to look at him, and Koz was sure he’d never seen so many emotions at once. Feral rage, confusion, realization, panic, and what Kozmotis could only describe as sadness. He wasn’t as poetic as Pitch, but somehow the word didn’t seem enough. Jack’s eyes caught onto the knife, and last of all Koz thought he saw relief on Jack’s face.

 

He didn’t get the chance to ask Jack what was happening. In less than a heartbeat, Jack had Koz pinned to the mattress, and all he heard was a quickly whispered, “I am _so_  sorry.” Then there was that sad look again, and Jack was kissing him. If he had thought the first kiss Jack had given him was intense, then he didn’t know how to describe this one. It was like Jack was trying to consume him from the inside out, and couldn’t swallow him down enough. Koz felt like his mind had left his body, and he was only objectively aware of what was happening. Jack’s tongue was in his mouth, it was running along his teeth and down his throat, and it felt like Jack was trying to eat him whole. Hands were roaming over his body, and he was vaguely aware he was moaning when he felt hands reach up his chest. Too soon and too long after, Koz came back into his body, and Jack’s eyes were shining down at him. Koz wasn’t even sure if he was breathing, but he thought he might finally have a word to apply to the look on Jack’s face.

 

Jack kissed him lightly on the cheek, and whispered, more air than actual words, but Kozmotis heard him all the same. “I’ll keep them away to keep you safe, Keep the knife close.” Just like that, Jack flew off, and for some reason, Koz had a feeling he wouldn’t be seeing Jack again.

 

 _Regret_.

 

That was what he had seen in Jack’s eyes, and for some reason, he was pretty sure it was what he felt crawling out of his chest that moment with every sob.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8D
> 
> Those of you on tumblr today were warned.
> 
> It's going to be painful like this for a while.
> 
> Next chapter will be especially short, so I'll try to update frequently in the next couple of days. Sadly this will not make things any better.
> 
> Mirella


	16. Believe in Angels

Three days passed, and Kozmotis could finally move back into his old room with its new, fresh window.

\---

One week passed, and the bar was moved out of the door frame. Kozmotis bought a gym pass instead to do his chin lifts.

\---

Two weeks passed, and Kozmotis finally convinced himself he had to lock his new window shut at night.

\---

One month passed, and Pitch was up to his old habits of trying to do everything Kozmotis did, and clawing at the door at night.

\---

Three months later, and Kozmotis knew that angels didn’t actually exist. 


	17. Cannot Win

Jack had only managed to get about an hour away on what he could get from Koz. He had been aiming for Pitch's room, hoping maybe he could hide there in his dream, and that he could reenergize at the same time.

 

Jack had realised his mistake almost the second he crashed in the room.

 

There had been no time to second guess himself. He’d been tired, and weak, and he’d needed _something_  if he was to have any hope of even flying out Koz’s window. He didn’t think Cupids would sink so low as to attack so close to humans, but they had been growing more bold in their attacks over the years and months that led to this full out war, and Jack didn’t want to take the risk. When he’d seen Koz holding his knife, he could have cried with relief. Instincts like that would keep Kozmotis safe. He could trust Koz to take care of himself, but all the same he would still do his best to draw the danger away.

 

Neither of these boys had anything to do with this war, and Jack would be damned if either got hurt because of him.

 

He hated himself a little for what he had to do next. He knew Koz was still nowhere near ready for any kind of spontaneous physical forms of love, but he also knew this was probably the last time he’d ever see Koz, so he didn’t need to worry about being forgiven this time. He just needed the energy to draw the Cupids away. So Jack had kissed Koz. Had kissed him hard, and let his hands bring them closer, determined to take in as much of Koz as he could in what few moments he had before the Cupids put together the broken window and the trail of blood.

 

Jack knew he would be sorry for as long as he lived, especially for the way he ran away without assuring Koz he would be okay.

 

To his credit, he made it almost to Germany before they pinned him down with arrows. Flying so fast had taken a lot out of him, and his dodging had gotten sloppy. He stumbled on his landing, but turned to face his pursuers with a wild grin like he had them exactly where he wanted them. “You little guys sure fly slow!” Jack shouted up at them, even as they formed a circle around him and raised their weapons. He broke one of the arrows they’d shot through his wing, and tried to hide his grimace like the excruciating pain was nothing. “And really? It took how many of you to even get me? That’s just pathetic! You fight using dirty tricks, and gang up on targets when they’re alone and unaware and weak! You’re all cowards!” Jack knew he was just talking shit, but his smile only grew and nearly split his face. It felt like a kind of victory to be able to speak down on the smug, round, bullies.

 

One had apparently had enough of his cheek, because a particularly tall and large Cupid flew down to tackle Jack into the ground. They both went down, and Jack felt the way the impact crushed his wings at an uncomfortable angle. He was determined to give as good as he got while he could however, and flipped them, relishing in the crunch he heard when the Cupid’s own wings made contact with the ground. It was short lived as the Cupid threw him over his head and into a tree. Jack cringed, and knew his head would smart in the morning.

 

“Got something to say now whore?” The Cupid had apparently managed to stand while Jack was still seeing stars, and stalked closer with an uncharacteristic spear. Jack could still grin in satisfaction at the way the Cupid’s one wing dragged and the other bent at an odd angle.

 

“Just wondering if that shaft you’re holding is supposed to be compensating for something.” Jack had always known his mouth would get him killed, although he had never imagined it would be quite as painful as a blade going straight through his wing.

 

When the world went black, Jack didn’t expect he’d be waking up again.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus I needed to add a bunch of warnings and tags. 
> 
> Happy update everyone!
> 
> Mirella


	18. Heaven Doesn't Seem Too Far

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O__________________________________O
> 
> Warning: This is the chapter where every possible bad thing that could happen, happens in graphic, and painful, excruciating detail. So, if you're squeamish, maybe sit this one out and find out what happens precisely a few chapters from now? Or I could just leave a note at the end of this chapter for those who would rather just skip to the end and get a quick summary.

“So I guess this means I’m not dead,” Jack muttered when he felt someone tug his head up sharply, and splash water in his face. “What happened to mass genocide of the ‘disgusting lesser race’?” Jack had heard enough jeering and whispers alike, and yet no one had listened when he’d tried to tell the older winged fae. He also couldn’t think of any information they could be keeping him alive for. Not that he would complain about being alive, but Jack didn’t particularly like his options.

 

“Every war needs its propaganda piece, and let’s say you’ll being playing the part of a head on a pike.” Huh. Jack wasn’t expecting an answer that honest. Maybe he wouldn’t be alive so long after all.

 

“Is he awake Pharrell?” Both Jack and the Cupid turned to look at the newcomer. Given the amount of sparkle he wore, Jack could guess that this man was in charge. For the first time in Jack’s life, he felt like he should keep his mouth shut in the face of this man.

 

“He is sir!” the good little soldier replied, and Jack flinched at the way he yelled so close to his ear.

 

“Good. Then we may as well begin. Suffice to say, with the wound he sustained in his wing earlier, he won’t be needing them much longer anyhow.” Jack’s jaw dropped, and he quickly whipped his head to the wing he knew had been stabbed earlier. Sure enough, there was a bloody mess where he’d been hit, and it looked like it had been left open to infection for some time. Suddenly Jack couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t control any part of his body.

 

Even as they pulled him off the wall, and threw him to the floor, Jack could barely see straight. Could barely make heads or tails of what was happening, and only heard his panic in his rapid heartbeat and words he wasn’t even aware he was speaking.

 

“No! Nonononononono,” he cried as he felt the first tugs on the ends of his wings. He screamed at the first cut of a knife where his wing met his back. The world flashed white hot with pain, and he lost all words as he felt the first rip while his wing was cut from his back. He had no idea if he said anything or if he screamed. All he heard was the blood rushing in his ears, but his throat felt raw, like someone had shoved broken glass down his throat. He couldn’t see past the tears and the pain and the sawing in his back. All he could see was white, falling from the sky like snow, and it only made him cry harder. Jack didn’t understand what was going on, but the snow felt like loss, and then more pain ripped through him and the snow fell red. He didn’t know if he could scream, or if he was still screaming, but he felt, more than heard what happened next. There was a crunch, that made his jaw clench, and he couldn’t breathe with his throat closed up as it was, and it only got worse moments later when he felt a wet pop near his spine, along with what felt like the rest of his back ripping off with it. Everything was fire, and painted in red as he felt something wet squelch across his face. Jack still couldn’t see clearly, and opening his eyes was a stinging pain all it’s own, but his back felt light, and his head felt numb.

 

Thoughts still floated and refused to form coherent words or sentences. He was vaguely aware of a large thump not very far away, just by his hand. Instinctively, his fingers brushed along it, and wondered at the softness, along with the sticky matting in some places.

 

The first fully formed thought Jack had was that he very much like to curl up in his wings and die. Without even willing it, his wings followed his thoughts to curl up around him, and that was when Jack felt the worst wave of pain of all. His back was scorching knives cutting into the joint of his wing over and over, stabbing in and out, and ripping more of his skin and muscles apart. All his organs were trying to make their way out of his throat, and Jack wanted to heave, but nothing would come out, but the pain was still there, and and it insisted that everything come out. He tried to crawl up onto his hands and knees, but only tipped over. Everything was completely out of balance, and everywhere Jack touched was wet, and everything was red when he opened his eyes he realized the soft heap he had been touching looked a lot like fallen red snow.

 

His eyes widened before his brain even had a moment to properly process the information.

 

He didn’t even hear the words, “Now take off the next one,” over the sounds of his own screams.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary for those too squeamish for the chapter: Jack had his wings hacked off, everything is red, and Jack now has a trigger that looks like falling snow.
> 
> Happy Thursday everybody!
> 
> Mirella


	19. Falling

Time no longer held meaning for Jack. He’d always been vague on time, but here in the dark, Jack lost total perception of the world around him. All that existed before was gone.

As a cruel reminder that he was grounded, his captors didn’t even bother locking him up after they had taken his wings. They only left him up on that same high platform with his blood and feathers all around him. They had taken his wings as well, and had kicked him down when he tried to hold on with all that was left in him.

No matter how much he cried, the soldiers followed their orders and took away all that Jack had left of his wings.

_”Send them to his disgusting people as a show of what they’re really worth.”_

Jack covered his ears, as if he could make the voices and memories go away.

The stretch caused Jack’s back to burst into a fresh, new pain and he cried hoarsely at the feeling of his back breaking open again. He tried to clutch at his back, as if that might do something, but it only reminded him of the emptiness where once there had been a weight and power. When he withdrew his hand back, he could just barely see his fingers covered in something dark.

He wailed with a throat that refused to make sound, and mourned for his wings and everything else that had been taken with them. He was no longer above crying.

 

He was no longer above anything.

 

He was grounded and flightless.

 

He was hideous.

 

He was disgusting.

 

He was filth.

 

He was nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time no longer held meaning.

 

Time could not be counted in minutes or hours or sun ups and sun sets.

 

Time instead was counted in bruises formed and bruises healed.

 

Time was counted in the space of breaths between punishments for the crime of existing.

 

Time was counted in the shouts that grew more frantic and the beatings that became fewer.

 

Time was counted in the dead who were starved and thrown away.

 

Time was counted in the way Jack could no longer bring himself to do more than lie on his side, not even counting the moments that meant time was passing at all.

 

Time only started once again briefly, and that was only long enough for Jack to realize that gravity was no longer a force he could control.

 

_“Congratulations Filth. You’re being let go. And I have some great news for you. You’ve been chosen out of everyone here to be taken to the Fathers. You’ll fit right in with those flightless freaks.”_

The last thing he felt, besides the pain that never went away, was the feeling of falling. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some semi-poetic post-trauma Jack, as per not requested extension of the torture I inflicted on our dear Jack.  
> I have to say, I loved the variety of comments I got on the last few chapters. I promise to get back to them soon. You're all wonderful, amazing, and admittedly hilarious. Thank you all for joining me in this journey. I can at least say that the last chapter was THE VERY WORST thing that's going to happen, in my humble opinion.
> 
> (But it's going to take a while before it actually gets better)
> 
> Much love!
> 
> Mirella


	20. I Let You Down

“Where is Jack?!” Toothiana was all righteous fury, as she descended upon the robed Cupids with her golden sword. “What have you done with him you heretics?” She held her sword tight against the throat of one with the most baubles. Her smaller selves held the others back.

 

Despite his disadvantaged position, the little, round man grinned up at her, and she could hear his wings shifting beneath his robe from the way his chains jangled. “And so someone finally comes to claim the abandoned boy.” His voice sounded like a hoarse whisper, but that may have had something to do with the sword against his throat, and the tight grip on his collar. “Come child. He has been purified. He may now be taken.”

 

A cold shiver ran down Tooth’s back at those words. What did it mean to a mad man like this for Jack to have been ‘purified’? Still, she let him go, and followed close behind, with her sword pointed at him and ready for any sudden moves. He led her down a stone staircase, and she had to lower herself to the ground in order to fit through the door. No one followed, but the man never lost his smile, as if he knew no matter what, he had won.

 

“We managed to get rid of that silly notion in his head that he required sensual nourishment to survive,” he spoke jovially, like he was talking about training a pet. Tooth’s eyes widened. They had starved Jack! Sure, it was unlikely he would die, but- “He is now freed from the needs of his past, and he can step forward into a bright new future. It is a shame he was only brought to us because of the war. Normally we would only deign to purify those who come here of their own volition, but after the latest treaties were signed, he could not be returned to his people because his past work violated that contract. Nor could our militaries keep him under the same agreements. So we took him in, and really, it is good to see that he has friends, given many of his transgressions.” The man went on and on, happily enough, and everything he said made Tooth see red. If she was being honest with herself, she wanted nothing more than to rip this man to pieces, tooth by tooth, and fly Jack out of here, where she could keep him safe.

 

“Here we are. Unfortunately, you’ll need to go up alone as my faith has denied me flight.” He pointed up to a wire cage high above them. There were many, presumably filled with other prisoners like Jack. Tooth didn’t know their supposed crimes well enough to try and free them all though. “Here is the key. Afterwards, you may either fly him out through the ceiling,” he said, nodding to the wide hole, leading straight up through to the sky, “Or else, if he is awake, you may want to bring him down and let him walk.”

 

Tooth looked at him skeptically, expecting him to draw out a bow and arrow the moment she took flight. She took the offered key, and launched herself into the air. She also didn’t understand why Jack would ever want to walk. As she understand it, the boy was born for flying, and had flown before he even crawled. She flapped her great wings, and clung to the door of the cage. She was grateful that she chose to hang on with both hands and had found a place to put her feet. She choked at the sight. There was Jack, pale as he had ever been, and he looked even smaller than he ever had before. He was lying on his side, with his back to her, and all Tooth could see were the two great scars down his back. Jack had always been small, but like this, without his wings. She held a sob in by putting a hand to her mouth.

 

The most horrifying part was how the scars, although they still looked harsh and painful, were clearly healing. Already she could see silver on the edges, and most of his back was a pink color, rather than the angry red of fresh scars. How long had they kept Jack like this? The second sob got through, and she couldn’t help the noise she made. They had /deformed/ him! They had taken his beautiful, beautiful wings!

 

They had taken the sky from him.

 

Jack shuddered, and stilled. Tooth could tell he had woken up, by the way he curled in on himself, and although she didn’t know how, he somehow made himself smaller.

 

Quickly, she pulled the key out, and ripped the door open. As much as she wanted to rain bloody hell on all the Cupids’ heads for what they had done, the most important part was to get Jack out of here first. She rushed over, and hesitated, unsure where to put her hands. Normally she would take another winged creature by the hands, and they would fly out that way. Or else she could have backpacked him, but in this case, he was curled too tight, and she doubted he would be willing to sprawl out to make this easier. That left her with one choice, and even then, she didn’t know how it would go for Jack.

 

She picked him up with one hand under his knees, and the other behind his back, and was terrified at just how light he was. Had they starved him physically as well? Before she could give herself the chance to think that over, she flew out of the cage as fast as her wings could carry her. In her arms, she could feel Jack trembling.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about making this one really long chapter, but no. You get each of the Guardians, and then it gets worse again! I totally forgot how long I dragged out arc 3 (by the by, we're in arc 3 now!) Prepare to feel a lot of emotions. (There are like 3 happy emotions in there before arc 4)
> 
> I really liked writing this chapter...which you probably guessed from the level of pain in this. ALSO BECAUSE I LOVE WRITING BADASS TOOTH! I GOT MAD RESPECT FOR THAT GIRL! She's the best!
> 
> Mirella


	21. The Cure and The Pain

“Bunny!” Tooth screeched, the moment she found herself in the warren tunnels. She knew Bunny would hear her from anywhere in his home, and she needed him immediately, and couldn’t be bothered flying through a damned labyrinth all day. As one of the oldest amongst their friends, and the one most interested in science, Tooth hoped that he might have something that could help Jack.

 

Easter was about Spring and new beginnings, right?

 

She inhaled to yell again, when a paw clapped over her mouth.

 

“What’s all yer racket about, and what’s that y’ve got there?” Trust Bunny to be as grumpy as always when Tooth herself was in a complete panic and at a loss of what to do. Before she could answer, Bunny began to poke in closer to get a better look, and removed the blanket covering the lump in Tooth’s arms. “Looks like a right mess-” Bunny cut off his words immediately when he finally recognized the pale boy Tooth was carrying.

 

He flinched back, but even then, his paws gravitated towards the mangled boy, and he found himself in a trance of disbelief. After all this time…”Is it really Frostbite?” Bunny whispered, not daring to believe. Everyone had thought he was dead after the war.

 

“It’s Jack,” Tooth nodded, and despite the tears in her eyes, she was smiling, because this was real. Jack was real, and he was alive, but- “Can you heal him? He’s asleep for now, but I think it’s more likely he’s passed out from the pain? Please Bunny?”

 

Bunny hopped over, and gently rested his paws along the scars. He pulled magic out of the earth, and called on powers that had been, those that presently were, and those that had the potential to be something more. It wasn’t a magic he called on frequently, even at Easter when he was his most powerful, but it was necessary to even hope to heal something this severe. He almost hopped back a bit when Jack visibly fliched at the invasive magic, but Tooth readjusted her hold on Jack, and ran her fingers through his hair to comfort him while Bunny worked.

 

He dug, and colours burst behind his eyelids in a million different, bright hues, but still he couldn’t find anything. Even when it was obvious there was not a feather left to be saved, Bunny kept trying, just to find something, some glimmer of hope for Jack.

 

Before Bunny was ready, the earth and the time that had been Bunny’s only companions for so long gave up, and flew away for a cause that had any kind of actual hope. All the glow and the colours of his magic dimmed, and he and Tooth were left once more in the dark.

 

“I’m sorry Tooth. There’s nothin’. They must have hacked into the muscles really good and taken everything out, because there’s nothing left. Certainly not enough ta fix.” Bunny couldn’t look at her. He couldn’t look at Tooth and see all the disappointment and heartbreak she must be feeling. “He can’t go home, can he?” he asked, knowing the answer already. Even if the war had only been between the Incubi and the Cupids, almost everyone knew the results and the new laws in place by now. Tooth nodded, her hand not stopping its gentle comb through Jack’s hair. “Maybe it’s for the best we take him to North,” Bunny suggested. “Jacko always liked the snow and brightness up there. It might just help.”

  
Tooth nodded again, and buried her face in Jack’s hair, so no one would have to see her cry.

 

~o*O*o~

 

Taking Bunny’s tunnels had proven to be a bad idea right from the start. They were too sloped, narrow and bumpy to take Jack comfortably. Jack was as light as the feathers he had lost, but carrying Jack through them was more effort than it was worth. In the end, Tooth had just sent one of her fairies to North to request a lift. It would be easier to explain the situation to him that way as well, rather than just showing up on his front step with his crippled, missing nephew. Bunny was reluctant about it, because he knew North, being the show off that he was would show up in his sleigh, and that would lead to a ride that he hated every time it happened.

 

Bunny only had to turn his head a fraction to glance at Jack, still resting fitfully in Tooth’s arms, and he reminded himself to swallow his damned pride.

 

With all the pomp and fireworks everyone expected of North, the Russian flew in on his sleigh in a bright burst of colours that came from his snow globes. Tooth’s arms were too full to wave for North’s attention, so Bunny mustered up the energy to stand and wave his arms for North to land. It was more than just the normal sort of drain he felt from anticipating North that had him so exhausted. Even if he hadn’t spent so much of his magic earlier, Bunny suspected he would still be this tired, just from the frustration of being useless, and Jack being so helpless.

 

North landed, not very far away, and was all bright energy and smiles that came from the bountiful belief still soon after Christmas. Bunny and Tooth didn’t move, and from the expressions on their faces, North quickly realized his summoning was for no joyous reason. “What has happened?” North asked, quickly switching to seriousness in the blink of an eye.

 

Bunny and Tooth glanced at each other, and stood with a nod. Tooth flew past the boys with her large blanketed bundle and went straight for North’s sleigh while Bunny stepped over to North with an equally serious expression. “Tooth found Jack-”

 

Before Bunny could go on, North was laughing with great joy. They had found Jack! Jack was alive! “This is great news! Where is he? We must go find him at once and rescue him yes? We will all go in together, and we will get Sandy to help us too, and it will be like big story, and after, we can tell Katherine all about it, and she will write it and-” North cut himself off. Bunny wasn’t smiling. Bunny wasn’t even smiling and rolling his eyes in the way he usually did when North spoke about the great adventures they could go on like old times.

 

Rather, he looked sad.

 

And North saw he was glancing over his shoulder, where Tooth was sitting in the sleigh with her blankets.

 

But…

 

Horror dawned on North too quickly, and he marched quickly over to where Tooth was, and ripped away the blanket that was too small to possibly cover his Jack.

 

_Toosmalltoosmalltoo-_

 

But there was Jack underneath it all, shirtless as always, and pale, so pale, and too small. Jack had always been larger than life, but here was was, such a tiny little thing, and the angry red-pink scars all over his back just made him look even smaller. He had no doubt Jack could fit into his hands, and that he could pick the boy up like he weighed nothing at all, but he couldn’t move.

 

“North,” Tooth startled him out of his daze with a hand on his shoulder, and large eyes clearly imploring him. “He needs somewhere safe.”

 

Just like that, North knew what was needed. As he’d suspected, he was needed to be a hero and caretaker. As Jack had recently described them, he needed to be a _Guardian_. “We will take him to the workshop. He can stay as long as he needs to heal, and as long as he likes after. I will take care of him.” A quick glance at Tooth and Bunny made him smile, although it was a sad one. “We will _all_  take care of him. Everyone into the sleigh!” North waved Bunny in as he stepped around to the driver’s seat. “Tooth, send for Sandy please. Tell Katherine and Nightlight their son is safe. I am thinking for now not telling them everything is better, at least until we figure out something more. Chop chop Bunny! We do not have all day!”

 

With a deep breath, and more excitement than he actually felt, North cracked the reins, and flew them back to his home. No doubt Jack had been through a great deal, and so North would provide him with a nice big bed, warm food, and all the comforts of Christmas cheer. He threw out a snow globe to take them back to the Pole, and despite everything, he laughed a little inside at the shiver that ran through both Bunny and Tooth at the same time they landed on the other side. It was always funny how Bunny and Tooth would react to the cold and the snow. North found it rather pleasant, and was pleased to come home to such a welcoming sign as the falling snow. Jack had always loved snow.

 

Just as he was about to look back to the front to see where he was going, he noticed that Jack was shivering too, which was strange since Jack had always said the cold didn’t bother him. His eyes went wide, and both Tooth and Bunny must have noticed too, because they crowded around him. Slowly, so slowly it felt like an eternity, blue eyes opened, although they didn’t seem to actually see anything, just staring at the sky.

 

Everyone just held their breath in silence for a moment, waiting for something.

 

Anything.

 

Snow landed on all of them in fat, fluffy flakes, and Jack blinked as a few landed on his face. His eyes widened, and no one was prepared for what followed.

 

Jack, who was never scared, who laughed at everything, and made everything dangerous into something fun, precious, fun loving Jack _screamed_. Bunny flinched back and held his ears down at the shrill noise that seemed to ring through the air. Even the reindeer were caught by surprise and bucked, causing everyone in the sleigh to jump. Tooth tried to jump in close to calm Jack down.

 

Jack only backed away from her, eyes wide with horror. He finished screaming only to begin muttering to himself. “Nonononono. No more feathers. No more. No more. Please don’t. Don’t take them. Don’t take any more.” It didn’t seem to make any sense, but none of them had much time to think on it when Jack suddenly fell forward in a poof of golden sand.

  
Sandy flew over to them on his little gold cloud and landed next to Jack to rest a hand on the boy’s head. He turned to them all in the sleigh and a question mark popped into the air above his head. Everyone was still breathing pretty heavily from everything that had just happened, and no one even knew how to begin answering the question. North just wrapped the reins around the front seat, and stepped into the back collapsing to his knees next to Jack. Without a word, he picked up his sleeping nephew and murmured, “I am so sorry Jack. I will be keeping you safe now. I promise.” Even without direction, the reindeer took them the rest of the way to the workshop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally going to just post Bunny's part, but that was super short, and all of you have been very patient with all my short updates, so I thought I could stretch it out a bit more and give you North and Sandy as well.
> 
> This chapter was important to me for two things. 
> 
> One, it gives us a bit of insight to how Bunny's powers work in my mind. In the movies he was very focused on earth, plants, flowers, and all things spring, so I wanted to incorporate that as a kind of catalyst for his powers/where he draws his strength from. In the books, he's a fucking time lord, so I feel he as access to lots of magics, not just from wherever he is in a present moment, but also from the past and all the potential futures. It would probably be more dangerous, but little Jack is worth the risk if it had the possibility of working (:C)
> 
> Two, FAMILY FEELS. In this case SAD family feels, but I am, have always been and will probably always be a sucker for family feels. If any of you ever need to punch me in the virtual face for everything I've put you through in this story, may it always be with family feels. The other guardians to me are Jack's family, and I love putting them together as such (See "Train Tracks" for reference to how much I love making these dorks into a family).
> 
> Also, I wish I hadn't had to spoil the whole snow trauma trigger thing in the previous chapter, just because I loved the shock value this initially had when I was writing it, but I understand this is a VERY whump heavy story (I swear things eventually get better DX) and that some chapters may need skipping. 
> 
> THAT BEING SAID I WILL NOW OFFER A SIMILAR DEAL AS TO THE ONE I OFFERED THE WONDERFUL KAZECHAMA!  
> If anyone, for any reason feels that arc 3 is too much to handle, let me know, and you can completely skip the chapters. I will send you the small snippets of happy that peek through, and then alert you when we're at the connecting piece between arc 3 and 4. I'd rather people not read what hurts them, and love what they will of this story, than read through something that makes them sick and have you hate this. I completely understand.
> 
> Now all of you should go read Train Tracks to recover from all the sads in this.
> 
> Mirella


	22. Just Keep Breathing

North set Jack up in his own room, now with a bed rather than the typical hanging pole Jack would normally roost from. Jack had resentfully begun to sleep in it, even as he always stared at the ceiling rafters with longing. The boy didn’t say much any more. He paced around in bare feet, and glared at anything as if the world offended him. He also didn’t eat unless North physically sat with him, and gave him the “Angry Russian Stare” until Jack complied.

 

Tooth had explained as much as she knew from the whackjob Cupid she’d threatened into giving Jack up to her. How they had taken Jack’s wings, how they had starved him, and how they had locked him up in a hanging cage Jack had no hope of escaping from. If the war was not already over, North may very well have taken up his own arms against the Cupids at the news.

 

Everyone stayed close at hand in the mean time.

 

After the first week, Jack began to hole himself up in his room.  He had gotten frustrated with how weak his legs were, and how tired he got having to walk everywhere. Bunny sighed with relief that at least there was one thing he could help with. A few days into Jack’s self-inflicted isolation, Bunny came knocking on the door. “Ey Frostbite,” Bunny smiled as he peered around the door. He wasn’t surprised to find the room a disaster, but he was surprised how it looked like and actual natural disaster had torn through the room. Furniture was thrown everywhere, the bed was a mess of blankets and pillows on the floor, and it looked like Jack had found a tool kit at some point, because the window blinds were nailed shut.

 

Jack barely looked up from the window bench, which seemed to be the only piece of furniture not on its side. Bunny took that as a sort of acknowledgement, and stepped softly into the room. “I heard you’re tired from walking,” Bunny started, when it was obvious Jack wasn’t actually going to say anything. “Thought I might help you with some exercises to strengthen your legs.” Jack just glared at him, and that naturally made Bunny’s fur bristle. He and Jack had always had a hard time getting along, and now Jack was being difficult on purpose when he was trying to be _nice_.

 

Bunny took a deep breath, and reminded himself that Jack had just gone through some traumatizing events and was naturally going to be angry. He just had to be patient.

 

Easier said than done.

 

“Tell ya what? We should actually start with some Spring cleaning I’m thinking, since your room’s a bit of a mess. That’ll make it easier to move around in here, and between you and me, I think the room could use a splash of a different colour besides all this Christmas theme North’s got going on.” Bunny whispered low, like he was sharing a conspiracy, and if there was anything he knew Jack loved, it was a good secret and great deal more mischief. True to his character, Jack turned around to fully face Bunny at the mention of pranks to pull. Bunny didn’t mention that painting, cleaning and exercise were all actually good methods of therapy. That was his own secret.

 

“Let’s paint it blue,” Jack whispered, and Bunny was happy to have gotten Jack’s first proper words out.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little lighter than usual?
> 
> Very little is better than Jack and Bunny being shits together (them being shits to each other is one of the few things better), so that's what we got.
> 
> Mirella


	23. Living on a Prayer

They painted Jack’s room, much to North’s horror. North said he was just acting for Jack’s sake, but Bunny knew he had legitimately been horrified by the splashes of spring colours along one of Jack’s entire walls. He smirked at that, even though North had taken away his paints “until he could learn to use them responsibly.” After that, Bunny had begun to take Jack through some beginner Tai Chi, in order to build the leg muscles Jack had never bothered with.

 

Unfortunately it all turned tits up when they moved onto exercises that put even the smallest strain on Jack’s back.

 

“Okay, just like before, copy my movements slowly, and don’t worry about moving your feet if you think you’re going to fall. It takes years to get the balance, and even I fall somet-” Jack interrupted part way into the movement with another scream like the one that made Bunny’s ears feel like they were bleeding the first time. Bunny clapped his hands over his ears, while Jack fell to the ground in a heap, and seemed to be muffling his screams into the carpet. It was still unbearably loud to his ears, but at least now Bunny could lift his own head and take in what was happening to Jack.

 

Jack was turned away from him, but one hand was clearly clutching at his back, digging into the skin just above his lightly cleaner scar. His whole back was a mess, but it was obvious where his wings had once joined with his body.

 

“Jack,” Bunny whispered, and crawled over, just as he heard everyone else running towards them.

 

“They’re gone. They’re gone, they’re gone, they’re gone, they’re gone, they’re gone.” Jack just kept repeating this to himself, and cried, even when everyone else stepped into the doorway to stare awkwardly at their broken little Jack.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's been so long everybody. I was in a weird funk the last little while. I blame work which has been a drag (Thankfully this week was better? Mostly?)
> 
> This one is super short, and as an apology for the short length and the long pause, I'll update again tonight. The next chapter is also super sad though, so I didn't want to attach it and just have a boat load of sads in one go. Most of you really liked Bunny and Jack broship in the last chapter, so I think you'll enjoy this one a bit.
> 
> Thanks for reading and sticking with me. I hope my weird headspace is over for now (I GET A TWO WEEK BREAK AT THE END OF THIS WEEK SO THAT'LL HOPEFULLY HELP A LOT!)
> 
> Mirella


	24. All I Think About

Bunny had limited their exercises to things just involving the legs after that. He got Jack walking more, although Jack still wasn’t a big fan of all the noise, and it was too easy to get jostled by rushing yetis and elves running around. So they stayed in his room, and everyone else came to visit Jack instead.

 

North came with balms, and stories that never worked for very long.

 

Sandy came with good dreams, but stopped once it had resulted in ripped curtains and Jack screaming at him. After that, he just came to play pictionary, since Jack always had the most hilarious guesses.

 

Tooth came, but typically Jack locked her out. At first she just thought she had really bad timing, since she was pretty busy navigating all her fairies to change their courses around the Pole and back home where all the tooth boxes were. She had even assumed that Jack was just taking a lot of naps to heal, but it quickly became obvious he was avoiding her when she saw him walking into his room one day. “Jack!” she called, glad to have finally caught him up and about. He didn’t turn, but she knew he must have heard her, because he jerked at the sound of her voice. She flew faster to try and catch him, but he just walked into his room and shut the door. Just as she hit the door, Tooth heard the click of the lock, and that was when she knew something more was wrong than what Jack was letting on.

 

Weeks passed, and Tooth saw Jack do this more and more. Every time he locked the door in her face, she grew more and more angry. “Jack! You can’t just keep locking me out like this! Let me in!” she screamed at the door.

 

Jack just ignored her in favour of giving her the silent treatment.

 

Once the incident with the window passed, Tooth decided that it would be easier to just fly into Jack’s room. Never mind what Jack wanted at this point. Easter had already come and gone, and Jack was still refusing to talk to her, so she was taking matters into her own hands.

 

She had been the one to teach Jack how to break in through windows long ago. North would claim it was him who taught them the skills, but Tooth and Jack both knew the truth. It had been a lot longer for her, so it took considerably more effort for her to get in than it used to take, but after a string of creative dental related cursing, she got in. Of course it was empty. Which would explain why Jack hadn’t rushed to the window and hadn’t tried to stop her from getting in at all.

 

She took a look around the room, and fluttered between the things Jack had collected in his time here. He had an entire table dedicated to what looked like different muscle and pain ointments and medicines. There were scratch marks along the walls in various places, and she noticed the carpet ripped out in one corner. She smiled at what looked like a little painting corner, and flew over to take a look. Jack had always been an excellent painter.

 

What she saw on the canvases made her gasp, and she brought her hands to her mouth like she always did when she was afraid. Some of the first ones looked like they had been Jack drawing birds, and wings, and the sky, but all those were destroyed entirely, with splinters still on the floor from where he had broken the canvases. The ones that scared her were the ones that looked like Jack had tried for a self portrait, and had clawed at it before it finished drying. As well, there was a particularly morbid one of falling snow, and Jack high up in the clouds, his wings shredded, and oh- Oh, his reaction to the snow made so much sense now. Tooth was sure she would cry, because Jack loved snow, and now he thought of it like he thought of his bloody feathers falling from the sky.

 

She was startled most at the last one, completely undamaged, and still on its stand. She paled at the painting, of what was obviously herself, crying into her hands, and surrounded by her beautiful feathers on the floor, and the skeleton of her wings drooping behind her.

 

Was this what Jack thought of her now?

 

Despite hovering above the ground, she still managed to jump in surprise when the door opened, and for the first time in too long, Jack was looking at her. Actually looking at her and not looking away. He looked surprised, and then noticed what she must have been looking at before he walked in and he glared. “I thought you sent your fairies everywhere because you didn’t _like_  breaking and entering,” Jack said pointedly, and then he did turn away, and for a moment, Tooth was most scared that he would walk out of his room and never speak to her again.

 

She held her breath, but instead, Jack just walked over to the table, and popped two pills back. Then, she realized this was an invitation to speak. It was cold, and much crueler than Jack had ever been with her, but it was a conversation starter all the same. She flew over to him quickly, before he could change his mind, and she grabbed him in a fierce and tight hug. “I missed you!” she whispered, because it was the truth, and because despite the ugly scars on his back, and the fact they could no longer fly together, even despite the paintings, she really did love and miss Jack.

 

Jack made choking noises, and Tooth had to fly back a bit to make sure Jack was okay. His face was an entire flurry of emotions, all mixed together and speeding one right after the other. His forehead was damp with sweat, and Tooth could practically hear the boy grinding his beautiful teeth, which was when she realized she had touched his back by accident in her excitement. She kept her hands on his shoulders, because she didn’t want to lose him again, but she made sure to keep well away from his shoulders.

 

Wasn’t it strange that his back still hurt after all this time, and after it was obviously as healed as it could possibly get?

 

“I can’t say the same,” Jack bit out, harshly, and Tooth didn’t know which hurt more, Jack’s anger, or the dread and fear that took over Jack’s face when her wings gently brushed against him.

 

“Jack, that’s not true!” Tooth didn’t actually know at all, but she couldn’t accept Jack ever hating her. “Everyone is here for you! We love you so much, and we want to help you as much as we can.” She moved a hand to his jaw, and he fliched away as if her hands had burned him, and he glared as he might if she actually had. “I know you’re hurting Jack. I just want to be here for you. I can help you remember better times.” She hesitated this time to put her hand on his face, although she would need the contact closer to his teeth to bring out the memories. “I have wings too Jack. I understand what was taken-”

 

“No! You _don’t_  understand! _You_  don’t know what it’s like to have your wings ripped off! You still have each and every one of your pretty little feathers! Mine were ripped out!” Jack stalked dangerously close, and actually grabbed at one of Tooth’s wings with hands that felt like claws. “You don’t know what it feels like to have one wing chopped to pieces! You don’t know what it’s like to feel like nothing else can break you only to be proven wrong as they rip. Each. Feather. Out. One. By. One! You don’t know the pain I went through! You don’t know what blades cutting into your wings feels like followed by being literally stabbed in the back! There is no _looking back on better times_! I lost that! There is no wonder or joy or light in the world! There is no hope for me Tooth! I’m grounded! They took everything!”

 

Tooth cringed and whined at the way Jack tugged painfully on her wing. She could easily beat him off with a small flap of her wing, but a small part of her felt she deserved this. Where had she been? She had known her friend and his people were going to war. She had seen how tired he looked, and still she hadn’t interfered until it was too late. Who was she to still call Jack her friend? Even now, Jack was probably dying, so painfully and slowly, and she couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t help Jack with his ongoing pain. She couldn’t feed him. He certainly didn’t _want_  her help feeding, ill as it made him now, and ill as she made him, just to look at.

 

“You and your pretty wings can just leave! Don’t come back.” Jack dragged her bodily by his grip on her wing, and threw her out the door.

 

“Jack-” Tears were close to bursting out of her eyes, but Jack only stared at her coldly and slammed the door.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. I lied. Or rather I got distracted and going on my laptop when my mom is around is awkward, so I had to wait two days to update again.
> 
> We're almost out of hell now guys! Have some best friend blow up anger. I should have shown off more of their friendship before this :C I also wish I'd gotten the chance to write the window scene with Jack and Sandy. Alas, this story is already 35 K, soooooo it really didn't need more words XD
> 
> Next chapter is when things get interesting. Stay tuned!
> 
> Mirella


	25. Another Life

Everyone in the workshop heard the door slam. North and Bunny stopped their argument, and stood still in the following silence. They were shocked when the queen walked down the stairs, her wings drooped. She didn't look at any of them, and she stared at the ground like it might have the answer to everything.

 

Quietly, Sandy floated over, and patted her on the shoulder. She looked up quickly at him then, and her face broke from one of intense concentration, to anguish almost instantly.

 

Sandy caught the much taller woman with surprise, as she threw her face into his shoulder, and sobbed. Bunny and North still stood in uncertain silence. Tooth could always be relied on to be fierce and strong. She was a queen for a reason, and to see her like this was almost frightening.

 

Still, North had better social skills than Bunny, and helpfully rubbed her shoulders where Sandy's little arms couldn't reach to comfort her. "There, there Toothy. Jack is just having hard time. He will come round eventually. We just have to be waiting."

 

"He's not getting better North!" she lifted her face to screech at him. Despite her tone, she looked more upset by this than angry. "It's been _months_ , and he just isn't getting better at all!" Her voice cracked around her words, and Sandy tried to hold onto her, that he might calm her down, but she pulled away violently and turned on North.

 

"He can't stand to _see_  me North! He's my best friend, and he hates me! Do you have any idea what that's _like_?" She drew in ragged gasps between each sentence, and every word came out sounding more like a harpy screech than normal spoken word.

 

She hugged herself tight, and made herself as small as she could. With her impressive wings, this was especially difficult, but for the first time, the others saw a side of Toothiana that was uncertain and scared. "His wings were taken from him," she continued more quietly, voice hoarse. "Literally ripped out of his shoulders. He says I can't even begin to imagine the pain he went through." At that, she began to brush a hand over a patch of feathers that looked slightly more ruffled than the rest. Despite the implications, Tooth carried on. "He says I can't imagine the pain he's still in, and he's right. I don't know. But his wounds are long healed over, and it's clear his wings aren't coming back."

 

Bunny loped over to her slowly, and stilled her hands. "Ya sound like ya have a plan," he said, ever to the point.

 

She hesitated a moment, staring at the floor, then nodded. "I want to make him human." Everyone flinched away at that. Make Jack human? It was unheard of, and incredibly cruel. "Not actually human," she corrected, "He'll just _think_  he's human." She refused to look at any of them while she explained. "You have to admit that without his wings, and if we put a shirt over his scars he would look the part. And I'm pretty sure that the pain he's feeling at this point is all in his head. So, if we take away his memories that he ever had wings, then maybe that will go away, and he can start to move on." Her voice had begun to squeak again towards the end, and all the men feared she might start crying again.

 

North was the first who dared to question her plan, "Even if we are putting shirt on him, how are we making him think he is human?"

 

Tooth didn't say anything in response to that. She only pulled out a long, gold box and they all knew what it was before they even saw the mischievous grin, and spiked hair on the end. "I have his memories, and I can change them," she said with determination clear in her voice. "I can make him think he's human, and I can make him believe that something happened with his parents so he can't go home. I can-" her voice broke off again, and she finally looked up at the men surrounding her with grief in her eyes. "I can make it so he never hated me."

 

This time North brought her in for a tight hug. He crushed her wings a little bit in the process, but neither of them let go for some time anyway, despite this. "I'm being selfish, aren't I?" she asked, holding back more sobs. She just wanted her best friend back, and this was the only way she knew how.

 

"Yes, but I am thinking it is also with good intentions," North rubbed up and down her back between her wings.

 

"It can't possibly be permanent though," Bunny interjected, still feeling opposed to the plan.

 

"No, but it can work for a little while, and then when we give him memories back in a couple years or so, he'll see his pain wasn't real, and it'll help." Tooth said this with such conviction, that the others began to think it might be true.

 

"Okay, but even if we make _him_  think he's human, how are we gonna convince him we're human?" Bunny gestured around the lot of them. "North might pass, but you and I and Sandy certainly don't. And anyway, where would we keep him? I don't think it would be quite so easy to just say normal humans all live in the arctic with yeti, and tiny elves."

 

Tooth deflated with each point that Bunny made. Sandy, who hadn't made any comment on Tooth's idea yet, waved and jumped around to catch everyone's attention. They were all surprised to see him with pale skin, that looked tanned, rather than golden-yellow. He made up some of his dream sand, and demonstrated that it could be pale, like the stuff of North American beaches. With the same sand, he began to make shapes, expressing his next idea. A little gold figure of Bunny hopped around, then swirled into what looked like a little figure of a man. Next a tiny figure of Tooth flew in, and the two figures touched hands, then she too swirled into a human shape.

 

Bunny stepped back a step, uncertain how Sandy even knew if his ability to change shape, let alone the shape of others. But now everyone else in the room knew as well, and suddenly this plan was looking less implausible. "You want me to make Tooth and I look human? What about our duties? We can't just put those off for Frostbite!"

 

He knew he was fishing, and Sandy knew it too from the way he added a snowflake to the demonstration, and then when he took it away showed the two human figures turning back into their proper shapes. They would only have to appear human for Jack. Then they could leave in their own forms and come back later.

 

Bunny sagged, and sighed dramatically. It seemed the whole universe was against him with this plan. "Alright, so even if I can transform me an' Tooth, I can only hold her shape if she's close by. So, what? Are we just going to be really close every time Tooth wants to see her best friend? Pretty sure the humans find that sorta thing awkward."

 

"Not if we're married," Tooth flew up to him, with a new light in her eyes that had been gone since Jack was taken, almost a year ago now. "Humans expect married couples to always be together."

 

"As for where to be living, I was thinking it was maybe time to go on little retirement," North shrugged, like what he was saying was no big deal. Even Tooth's jaw dropped at the idea. With a sparkle in his eye that could only belong to Santa Claus, the old Russian explained, "There are enough Yeti here to do the big work all year. I can downsize to smaller shop, somewhere comfortable for me and Jack to live. Then I just deliver the toys around Christmas, and all the children will still be happy." North beamed at his contribution to their master plan. "After all, he will be needing someone to watch after him when Bunny cannot be around. Would be good timing too if I can be helping Jack."

 

“Are you sure North? We don’t even know if this will work. I mean, at this point, it sounds like it’s all just mental and emotional pain, but I don’t know how to expect you to deal with it, if it actually is still physical pain, and-” Tooth was back in the air, and fluttering about worriedly, which meant she was already doing better than when she had first entered the room.

 

“Toothy,” the older man grabbed his anxious, fluttering friend by her shoulders, and put her feet on the ground. “Stop that. I am trusting you, and we will cross bridge when we get to it.”

 

"Alright," Bunny gave in, smart enough to not try and argue with all three stubborn idiots, even if he could be the most stubborn of all of them if he tried. "What's the plan then? What's _all_  of the plan?"

 

So for the next several hours they discussed every aspect of how they would work this out. North found a small city he could easily set up shop in. He declared this as a great opportunity for him to focus on his own creations, ideas and hobby projects. Bunny showed how he would be able to transform them. They all discussed their different roles in Jack's life. North decided that Jack should be able to put his artistic talent to use, and insisted that Tooth make Jack a kind of artist in this new life. From there it became easier to find different areas of art they all excelled in and thus ways they could be Jack's friends again.

 

Bunny warmed up to the idea when it was mentioned that he could be a painter, a chocolate maker, and anything else as this human version of themselves. After that, it was just a matter of working out the technical details. Over the following few weeks, North set up his shop, and had the yeti furnish it and make it appropriately lived in for their plot that Jack would believe he'd lived there for almost five years. In isolation, Jack would hardly question that he never aged or that his story was always that he'd been through a tragedy five years ago. Tooth worked out just which parts of Jack's memories needed changing in order that his brain would fill in the details exactly as they needed to be changed.

 

The hard part would be getting close enough to Jack to make it work.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we have some more speculation into how Bunny's magic works based on folklore about Pooka being shapeshifters. I also enjoy playing with Sandy and Tooth and how their magic might work. We'll only get a little bit of North towards the end, based on how I think events in the GoC books will go.
> 
> We also have delightful, multi-faceted takes on Tooth! Who says a badass mutha-fucking QUEEN can't also break down and cry when she realizes her best friend hates her? Love hurts 3 It also shows how desperate she can be. I like to think she had Jack's memories on her because she planned on using them as a backup to help Jack with his grief and anger and pain. For any who think this is a crazy plan, you're not WRONG, but if anyone can get away with hairbrained schemes, it's the guardians~~
> 
> Sorry for the wait again everyone! I hope you enjoyed the two updates!
> 
> Mirella
> 
> Now I'm going to pass out and recover from my hell cold


	26. Letting Go

There was a knock on the door, and Jack groaned as he sat up. Even though he no longer wanted dreams, Jack still found it easiest to sleep away his pain. Sleep meant he didn't have to feel the torn skin on his back, or just how light his shoulders were. Sleep meant he didn't have to think about everything he'd lost, and how he couldn't do anything, because he was pathetic, hideous and weak now. He didn't want to bother with clothing, but North had insisted pants at least were necessary, after the first time he walked in and Jack was naked.

 

There was another knock, and Jack rolled, literally, out of bed. "Coming, coming," he muttered, and pulled on pants. He opened the door, and immediately glared. "Go away," he snapped, and made to slam the door right in Tooth's face.

 

Unfortunately for him, Bunny was there to catch the door and force it open. Everyone was there, which made Jack think this was some kind of intervention. For what, he had no idea. It wasn't like he _wanted_  to be hideous, unable to fly, abandoned, without a family or depressed. It wasn't like there was anything they could _do_  about it anyway.

 

Regardless, they all stomped into his room, and backed Jack into it with them. The easiest reaction at this point for Jack was anger, so he stuck with that one and pointed a finger at Tooth accusingly. "I don't care what all of you have to say, but you can do it without her!"

 

Tooth flinched away, but she was still the first to come forward. He glared at her feet, that hovered just a few inches off the ground. More than he would be able to manage ever again. "We have one more kind of treatment Jack. If it doesn't work," she paused, and looked for all the world like she didn't want to say the next part. She swallowed, and Jack could hear the noise it made in the quiet of the room. "If it doesn't work, you don't have to see or hear from me again. I promise."

 

"And if I refuse?" Jack snapped, still bitter about Sandy's last 'treatment'.

 

"Then you'll never be rid of me," Tooth glared back at him. It shouldn't have been a threat, but it was still effective as one. "I will visit you every day, and make you love me again like you used to, through damned stubborn will."

 

Jack almost wanted to smile at that. He remembered telling Tooth something similar once, about how he'd get her to have fun if it killed him. That was a different time though, and a different him. He had wings and freedom then. His eyes snapped up again quickly at the feel of lips touching the corner of his own. He shuddered away from the touch, but Tooth caught him by the hands and held him. "Just trust me this one last time? Please?"

 

He glanced over his shoulder at the other three. Bunny had his arms crossed as usual, probably there to make sure he agreed to it whether he wanted to or not. North gave him a stern nod, and Sandy gave him two big thumbs up. Jack sighed at their persistence. Well, this was the first thing they had that everyone seemed to agree on, and the payoff if it didn't work would be worth it. "Fine," he grumbled, and let Tooth lead him to a sitting position on the rug.

 

"I'm going to sit right behind you. I want you to close your eyes Jack." Jack rolled his eyes instead, but a glare from Bunny put him in his place, and he did as he was told. He felt her sit close behind him, and heard her wings unfurl. What he wasn't expecting was for her to firmly place both her hands directly over his wounds. "Ah!" He curled away from her hands, and hissed at the burning pain spreading from his back to the rest of him, like every nerve was exposed and aware of his wings being ripped out again.

 

"Jack? Jack!" Tooth hovered over his back, and if that was what this new 'treatment' involved, then he might go back on his word and let Tooth visit him every day anyhow. "I'm sorry!" Tears were leaking out of his eyes at the pain, and wasn't that just perfect? Now everyone could see how weak and useless he was. "If you can, please sit up. I can do this another way. Please sit up Jack. I promise I won't touch your back again."

 

 _'Damn right you won't!'_  he wanted to spit out the harsh words at her, but instead forced himself to sit up again, carefully avoiding touching her. He evened out his breathing with some of what Bunny had taught him. When he was finally calm, he realised he'd kept his eyes shut the entire time. "Okay," he said, voice hoarse from the strain.

 

This time, Tooth gently reached for his jaw from behind, and this was more or less familiar, given Tooth's strong affection for his teeth. He just kept breathing, and felt every shift in her body through their contact. He could hear and feel the feathers of her wings moving. It sounded like she was enveloping them, probably in a way she thought was still comforting. As much as Jack may have wanted it to be, instead, the idea of being caged in, even by wings, made it suddenly harder to keep his breathing steady.

 

"It's okay Jack," Tooth whispered, and he felt her magic flow through his teeth. Memories of how it felt to have his own wings curled around him like a blanket. He sobbed, but Tooth didn't stop the flow of happy and gentle memories. "Reach out Jack. What do you feel?" Jack did as he was told, and his hands touched feathers.

 

"Wings," he replied, his mind foggy now under the strange sea of old memories. He pet them gently, and for a moment, from this angle, he could almost pretend they were his. Although, if he was being honest with himself, they couldn't be his, because he never maintained his nearly so well.

 

"That's right. Now pull them in tight. We're going for a bit of a free fall now." The wings pulled in just a few heartbeats after he willed it, and then the memory of falling through the sky for the pure thrill of it was overwhelming. He wanted to whoop with joy at the feeling of wind on his face, and the feeling of everything tugging. There was a strange pulling sensation at his jaw too, but he presumed it to just be more of the wind. He needed to open his eyes if he was to know when to open his wings so he didn't crash.

 

Just as he was about to do that, there was a final tug through his molars, and he woke up.

 

He blinked a couple times up at the ceiling. That dream had felt so real. Even as he thought about it, it was slipping away, and he could only remember that it had something to do with flying and falling.

 

With a great yawn, he hopped out of bed. Maybe he could go over to Sandy's and ask the quiet little guy what his dream might have meant. He stretched with a groan, and damn if his back didn't feel stiff!

 

Jack pulled on his frosted blue hoodie, and padded out of his room.

 

"There he is! Jack Frost" bellowed a familiar voice as Jack emerged. Jack turned to see all his friends already there, and smiled.

 

"Morning sleepyhead," Tooth waved from her place at the breakfast table.

 

"Good morning," he replied cheerfully, around a yawn, and leaned down to squeeze Tooth with a hug.

 

"What's everyone doing here so early?"

 

"Its noon ya lazy sack," Bunny smirked. Jack kissed Tooth on the forehead just to mess with her fiance for that comment. Bunny frowned, but only a little. "Did ya forget what today is?"

 

Jack blinked down at all of them for a few minutes, his brain still filled with fog. The gears turned slowly, and his face finally put the pieces together. "Shit! Happy birthday to me!" He clapped himself in the forehead and sat down laughing. Everyone else began to laugh along with him, and they spent the rest of the day in a perfectly calm, ordinary, human way.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're out of the pan and the fire! Now we're back to cute things!  
> Welcome to arc 4
> 
> Mirella


	27. Safe and Sound

What was only meant to be a year or two, quickly became a dozen or so. Still Jack held onto the belief that he had run away from home five years ago, even as they celebrated his twenty-third birthday for the fourteenth time.

 

Jack was happy. Sure, his mind had decided that some Christmas songs were part of his trauma. As well, Jack refused to drive, but that was okay, since he really shouldn't anyway, since he'd never _actually_  learned how.

 

Jack was happy though. He was no longer in pain, and none of that wanted to take that away from him. Even Bunny who had insisted that their solution could only go on for so long, didn't press for them to force Jack back into his proper mind.

 

At some point, they had all quietly agreed to just keep up the charade for Jack. Sandy was busiest the most, but that just played into his character. Despite all her duties, Tooth still came to visit with Jack as often as Bunny would let her.

 

The only tough part was seeing Jack always look half starved. He joked about it being a part of his occupation as an artist, but the rest of them knew better than that. Tooth may have taken Jack's memories from his 'purification' away, but he didn't actively seek out the physical intimacy his body still knew it required. For this, Tooth and Bunny would offer brief, friendly kisses, and North gave Jack tight hugs as often as possible, but they all knew eventually they would have to literally throw Jack into sex with someone if they wanted him to make it through the century, or at the very least, look less dead.

 

For now though, Jack was happy.

 

They could let him believe that.

 

Right?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT CHAPTER FOR ALL THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN ASKING WHEN THE TWINS COME BACK!  
> (Okay, so it's actually just Pitch, but that's one of them).
> 
> So yes, it has been a long long time for everyone. Now then, y'all have some home work for next chapter, and that is to read http://linddzz.tumblr.com/post/58416967314/the-beginning-of-doublemint-oreos
> 
> This is very important for the next chapter. More fic recs to come with upcoming chapters!
> 
> Mirella


	28. Get Through It

On one of his days off, Jack found himself at his usual haunt. It was a kitschy little coffee shop that seemed to be a popular place for artists of all kinds. He sometimes came here with Bunny and Tooth, but today it was just him and his sketchpad.

 

Nothing too inspiring came to mind. For the morning he ended up drawing the crows on the sidewalk outside. He ended up putting the most detail and effort into the wings and feathers without really thinking about it. He liked drawing wings, and he was good at it, there was no need to think further on the why.

 

Eventually they had flown away with the increasing foot traffic, and Jack looked inside for a new subject instead. Some tall, lanky man bent over a table and laptop, and the expression on his face was priceless. Jack laughed, and quickly sketched out a cartoon of the guy. His laugh must have caught the man's attention though, because the guy looked up, and looked straight at Jack.

 

Jack tried his best to look ashamed, but he was far too amused to stop smiling, even as he filled the page with more cartoons of tall, dark, and lanky hiding behind his computer. He glanced up at the guy every time he took another sip of his drink, and was pleased whenever he caught the guy looking away. Not that he could say anything really, given how he'd started checking out the guy after about cartoon number three. He attempted to be discrete when he looked over at the guy repeatedly to draw a semi-proper portrait. Discrete wasn't exactly in Jack's nature though. Nor was it apparently in this gentleman's, given the number of times they accidentally made eye contact.

 

Eventually though, the caffeine caught up, and nature called. Jack ditched his stuff at the table. He knew the ladies who worked here well enough that if someone attempted to steal his bag, they'd either wind up with a frying pan in their skull, or an inexplicable arrow to the knee. Jack still didn't know how they'd been permitted to have that in the store.

 

When he got back, the man purposefully looked away, and Jack could see from the new angle that he was rapidly texting someone. Usually Jack didn't do the dating thing, but there was something amusing about how shy this guy was, and his awkwardness seemed familiar. He couldn't pin down what, but something compelled Jack to scrawl his number on a napkin before he went home for the day.

 

Done with discretion, Jack picked up his bag, and sauntered over. He put the napkin right on the guy's keyboard, and winked at the poor man's startled expression. "Give me a call sometime." And before Jack could make an ass of himself, he walked out, and hoped he'd hear from this guy again soon. For some reason, he'd already grown attached.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's all pretend I didn't take forever updating this. For those of you who were around for the original Doublemint Oreo fics, WELCOME TO THE ORIGINAL UNIVERSE THAT WAS DMO! Hopefully updates come sooner?
> 
> Mirella


	29. Held in the Arms of the Ones You Think You Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first two links are some doublemint explanations for how the twins got together written by the exceptionally talented Lindz and Brill
> 
> 1) http://linddzz.tumblr.com/post/64846766144/sweet-like-summer
> 
> 2) http://drowning-inthe-feels.tumblr.com/post/68592032170/im-fairly-new-around-here-but-i-have-to-say-i
> 
> This next one is the beginning of the explanation on how all three of our little devils got together
> 
> 3) http://linddzz.tumblr.com/post/63445318847/convincing
> 
> And this is adorable kitchen fluff which is very relevant to the plot below~ (No seriously, it's super cute. Go read it!)
> 
> 4) http://neyiea.tumblr.com/post/58720044046/gotta-figure-out-how-to-write-this-relationship
> 
>  
> 
> And now for the story you all have been waiting a week and a half for!

A text about commissioning cover art had turned into meetings. Meetings had turned into flirting. Flirting turned into an invitation to dinner with Pitch and his twin brother. Dinner had turned into complicated feelings for two, which had thankfully been resolved by the fact that the twins were already together and wanted him to join them. From there, it quickly turned to making out, and plenty of new experiences in bed.

 

Despite minimum prior experience in sex, Jack was quite pleased that he was able to take what the boys could give him, and give plenty more in return. He quickly gained confidence, and despite sleeping less, there was an extra bounce in his step, and he felt more energetic nowadays.

 

Jack didn't remember a time where he hadn't looked half starved, but even North had noticed Jack was filling out. "You are looking much healthier," North had declared one day, awkwardly catching Jack in the act of sneaking in. Trust North to know when he'd been naughty. "Much better to have meat on your bones, and a glow in your eyes." Jack hadn't noticed anything until North said it, but he was surprised to find the old man was right. He did seem a little brighter overall. The thought made him smile, and that night he'd asked Koz if he was _sure_  they couldn't do anything in the kitchen to celebrate.

 

Of course between the three of them, they came up with something.

 

Jack's friends had all been delighted to hear Jack was seeing someone. He left out details, but only Bunny ever seemed to mind the TMI details Jack _didn't_  leave out. Things only came to a head, when he'd told North he was moving in with the twins. North had been watching out for him ever since he moved here, so that had explained the sad expression on the old man's face.

 

What didn't make sense was Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy coming right in the middle of packing, and asking he stay. They came up with all kinds of reasons. What if they never saw each other anymore? What if his boyfriend was overly possessive and never let him leave? What if North had a health condition or an accident and there was no one around? What if? What if? What if?

 

"Guys. Stop!" Jack huffed in annoyance. "None of that stuff is going to happen. I spend most of my time there anyway, and nothing's happened yet, right? This is just making things official and more convenient. If it makes everyone feel better though, I can pop into the store once a week or something to check on North. Okay?"

 

Everyone had shamefacedly nodded, and Jack was able to persuade Bunny to help carry boxes to the moving truck outside. Tooth and Sandy helped pack things, while Jack went down the hall.

 

He hesitated to interrupt carving time, which he could just barely hear over the sounds of Russian classical music blasting through the door. Jack didn't even know if North would be able to hear him over the sounds of machinery and Schostakovich, but he knocked anyway. The music turned off almost instantly, and North yanked open the door with his great, powerful arm. Honestly, Jack didn't know how any of the doors in the building stayed on their hinges. North took one look down at Jack and pulled him in without a word.

 

North sat down in his chair, with a great whumph, and Jack could only stare in awe at the incredible towering carving behind North. There were no words, as Jack found all the details. North's cough eventually brought Jack back to the present, instead of the fantasy made into wooden reality on the desk. Turning back to North, Jack's voice caught in his throat. "I don't want to leave you," Jack managed to squeak out, after sometime opening and closing his mouth again. That made North sit up straighter and almost brought a smile to his face, but before Jack could get the old man's hopes up, he shook his head, and looked away. He needed to continue, and somehow make North understand. "I don't want to leave you, but I need to live with them," Jack tried to explain, now that his voice was at the appropriate octave. North seemed to know everything already, so Jack didn't even bother censoring his speech. "A lot of my happiest memories are here North, and I can't even tell you how grateful I am to you for- for _everything_. You know I'd never leave if I didn't have good reason. You're like a father to me, and after everything, you've helped me through all of it." Jack didn't even know what he was saying anymore, but the words felt true. True and necessary. "I can never repay you, but I do know I have to move out. It has nothing to do with you, and absolutely everything to do with them, and me, and how when I'm with them it feels like some missing piece is there that I can hold onto. With them, I know with total certainty that they care, and that they'd never let anything happen to me. I know it's like that with you, but with you, Tooth and everyone, it feels more like you're protecting me like some fragile flower, and I don't know, with them it's more like we protect each other equally, and-"

 

Jack was cut off by big arms wrapped around him, and his face was crushed into a massive chest. After so many years, Jack had become familiar with North's bone crushing hugs, and hugged back, as tight as he could. The inability to breathe didn't seem to be a problem in the face of what North's actions told him. "You are in love," North said, like he was answering a question Jack hadn't said out loud. "It is a good thing for you Jack Frost, and it proves some very cruel people wrong." Jack couldn't ask what North meant, even if he wanted to, but he figured North knew exactly what he was talking about. "They are good for you, and you are good for them. I will be happy for you all," he nodded and stepped away, still holding Jack by the shoulders. "And if they hurt you, I will cut them both into small pieces." Jack laughed nervously at that last part, but took it as permission for him to move.

 

Koz had joined Bunny in moving boxes, and it seemed between the two of them, all of Jack's stuff had been loaded into the truck. North led him down the stairs, still talking. "Now you will still be visiting at least once a week for cookies and fruitcake. No exceptions. I know Toothy wanted us all to go to the beach this summer, so make sure you keep in touch with her to know when we are going. Also, don't let them bully you about clothes too much. If they are thinking you need changing, you hit them hard like Russian winter." Jack laughed at that last part, and laughed harder when North picked him up effortlessly at the door, and kissed both his cheeks goodbye.

 

Pitch looked less amused from his place in the driver's seat, but Jack just shrugged at his questioning glare, as he stole the passenger seat, by sitting on Koz. Given the way Koz casually buckled them in and wrapped his arms around Jack when Pitch drove off, he didn't care too much. "It's a Russian thing," Jack finally replied before fidgeting to play with the radio.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention I have a big thing for family feels? Well I DO! North Jack family moments ALL THE WAY!
> 
> Also ta-da! Koz is back!
> 
> Now some of you may have questions like: Wait, so the twins don't recognize/remember Jack?
> 
> Short answer: No.
> 
> Longer answer: It's been over a decade, and Pitch at the very least can chuff it up to really strange wet dreams which he doesn't remember the details of. For Koz, it's partially forced out of his mind, and mostly just forgotten. The knife got lost sometime between changing furniture, changing houses, changing everything. Also going to reiterate, it's been *checks exact timeline* about 14 or 15 years. It's a long time to remember something that "couldn't actually have happened".
> 
> I can try to explain it in better detail if people ask, but that's the short and the long of it.
> 
> Mirella


	30. You're Not Alone

It wasn't the first time Koz had traced the scars on his back. Jack had played with a few of Koz's own on occasion, but Koz had always seemed more fixated on this imperfection on Jack's skin. "They look almost like wings," he whispered, and his fingers followed one scar to where Jack knew it flared out. He also knew the one on the right side looked more like a line, than an entire part of his back ripped out. In the quiet morning hours though, Jack wouldn't correct Koz on plurality.

 

"One good part about the car crash. I got scars worthy of wicked street cred," Jack joked. They'd slowly been working their way through Jack's issues. They had found that Jack dealt best with his grief and guilt through humour, however morbid. Neither of the twins ever tried to stop him from joking about his trauma, since it got Jack to actually say _something_. The fact Koz was a war veteran also helped.

 

Pitch had actually pouted about it once, although he preferred the term 'glowered'. "You both have your traumas, and you both help each other out, and I'm left out in the cold!"

 

Jack had only stared at him in confusion for a while, before he figured Pitch wasn't going to elaborate.

 

"Koz helps me out with tricks his therapist taught him, but other than whining about my tragisad back story to you guys, what am I doing?"

 

"You help with the nightmares." Pitch stared at him as if it was the most obvious explanation in the world. Jack gave Pitch an expression that even Pitch could read as not understanding a word he was talking about. "When Koz has nightmares, you curl around him and whisper things." Jack's eyes widened at that. He had no recollection of ever doing such a thing. Was talking in his sleep a thing now? "He used to just shake until I could wake him up,  but now whenever he has one of his nightmares, I feel you slip over to him, and I've heard you whispering, like you're right there in the dream, making everything better, and reminding him he's not there anymore."

 

Jack had thought it was awesome and hilarious. He'd passed it on to North, who had told Bunny, who inevitably told Tooth. Surprisingly enough, it was Sandy who had come to him first about it. Tooth had translated and explained to them that Sandy used to work in psychology and had been a sort of expert on dreams. He had convinced Koz to come see him about his PTSD, and had given him sleeping pills.

 

After that, Koz had slept much better, but Jack's friends hadn't stopped fretting over Jack.

 

"Think Pitch will come back to bed if I put the corset on for him?" Jack asked over his shoulder. He smirked at the way Koz's hands twitched along his back at the mention of both boys' favourite piece of Jack's wardrobe. Pitch had been working nonstop the last few nights, since Tooth announced they were taking Jack on a road trip.

 

He was pouting, like Jack going away for a week was the worst thing that could possibly happen. More likely, he was probably upset that it was Jack's self proclaimed 'guardians' taking Jack, and not them. Koz had put his foot down on Pitch's drama though when given the reason for Jack's sudden trip.

They were taking Jack to see his parents.

 

"Mm, maybe," Koz replied thoughtfully into Jack's mangled shoulder. Although, I get the feeling he'll come tonight regardless. I'm pretty sure he wants to cover you in multiple bites and scratches from head to toe, so you'll remember who you're coming back to." Koz lined up behind him, and Jack laughed at the clothed hard on pressing into his thigh. "And just what you have to look forward to when you return."

 

"Is it Pitch, or you that wants to hickey me all over?" Jack asked coyly, and looked at Koz behind him knowingly.

 

"Both. We've been thinking about it all day." Jack just laughed again at the twinlepathy thing his boys did. "Although, I would not be at all opposed to you using the corset."

 

"I'll be back soon." Jack hopped off the bed, and grabbed his favourite seduction tactic from the drawer. Koz couldn't read Jack's mind, the same way he could read his brother's thoughts, but as he watched Jack get dressed from the bed, he couldn't help thinking Jack may have meant something else as well.

 

He smiled when Jack swayed out of the room, and had Pitch eagerly kissing and pushing him onto the bed seconds later. Both twins agreed, they couldn't let Jack leave without a proper send off.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to grumpycait on tumblr who is the MVP this week for reading pretty much ALL OF THE HELL ARC in one go! They messaged me this morning about it, and liked all the chapters from 19-29 (and consequently reminded me I needed to update).
> 
> Also, I could not find the original corset fic that this chapter refers to. Maybe charmed7293 wrote it...
> 
> As for the trauma mentioned on multiple accounts this fic http://whatgoesbetterwithcoldthandark.tumblr.com/post/72922747452/cocoon may help.
> 
> And then there's this shameless self promotion of pain and agony for more detail! http://only-1-a.tumblr.com/post/73693959465/fic-puzzle-pieces
> 
> Mirella


	31. Against the Wall

Jack had woken up very sore the next morning, but, with no small amount of effort, he pulled himself out from between the boys and started to get ready for the day. His shower, breakfast, and even his dummy check had been keenly interrupted. Jack didn't have a moment alone until North honked the horn of his massive truck outside. Thankfully it was Koz grinding him into the kitchen table, and marking his back with even more bruises, otherwise he doubted Pitch would have let him go for a little thing called 'decency'.

 

Reluctantly, Koz did pull back, and he even blushed, like they'd actually been caught at something. Jack just laughed, and kissed the warmed skin, making it flare to a darker shade. "I'll be back soon," Jack repeated, and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. "Keep Pitch well occupied when he comes home from work. If we're lucky he'll barely realise I'm gone before I get back."

 

Jack didn't get very far, before Koz had him pinned again, this time to kiss him thoroughly against the door. Hopefully no one was foolish enough to try and knock on it until Koz and Jack were done. Jack gasped at Koz's erection grinding into him in the front this time, and making Jack harder than he already had to deal with. Koz didn't even bother with permission to kiss his way into Jack's open mouth - Jack would have given it anyway. Concentration was difficult, and made worse by a hand wandering down the front of his pants with a clear intended destination. Jack pulled him closer for more contact.

They may have gotten farther if the horn honk hadn't startled them both into knocking teeth and bumping heads. Koz held a hand to his head, while Jack inspected his mouth for all his teeth. "I can assure you wholeheartedly Jack, that we will both be feeling the loss until you come back. The bed will certainly be too warm without you there to keep it cool."

 

"That's a little cheesy, dontcha think Kozzy?" Jack joked, running his tongue over his teeth for a final check.

 

If Jack had blinked, he may have missed a look in Koz's eyes that said he really didn't think so. A moment later and it was gone though, and he put a hand on Jack's back to lead him through the door. "Ask Sandy if he has another medicine he can prescribe. The one I'm on right now tastes like sand." Jack agreed, and was going to kiss Koz goodbye when the horn honked again, and Jack stomped to the truck, more than a little frustrated by North.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's super short, but that's only cuz the next one should be long and super drama packed!  
> Also, I meant for this to be out a week ago, butt hen my mom came home early and I've been trying to be a good daughter that hangs out with her mom, and a good friend who socializes with her friend who is leaving for Korea, and thus this is coming out today.
> 
> But hey! I'm procrastinating on food for you guys! <3  
> I love you all and your reviews are always awesome (something else which I need to catch up on replying to I'm so sorry)
> 
> Mirella


	32. Always Love You

"Thank you guys for coming with me," Jack repeated for the umpteenth time during the whole trip.

Mostly he said it at this point because everyone else was being suspiciously quiet. Usually between Tooth's continual chatter, North's stories and Bunny and Jack arguing, they were a pretty rowdy group. Instead, Tooth was almost silent, and North just muttered that he shouldn't tell stories and drive at the same time. Even Bunny wasn't rising to the bait of arguing, and Jack had even played Tropic Thunder as loudly as his phone would go. Bunny just told Jack to turn it off, and had nothing to say after that. Sandy had signed to him for a bit until his narcolepsy got the better of him, and Jack was left with a quiet car again.

So he thanked them again and again, because that got him at least a few words out of the other passengers. It worked less and less as time passed, and eventually Jack just decided to nod off.

The car jerked to a stop the second Jack closed his eyes. It must have been longer, because when he lurched forward with the momentum of the car, he saw through the windows that he was home. "Holy shit North!" Jack shouted, rubbing what would probably be a bruised chest later. "Lighter on the breaks! Ow." He took off his seat belt, and crawled over Bunny to open the door, much to the older man's chagrin.

Everyone else followed him out, but while Jack took nervous steps towards his family home, the rest of them hung back, in the same awkward silence that had permeated the ride here. As Jack got closer, he saw, with confusion just how derelict his house had become. It didn't even look neglected, so much as it looked abandoned. It was dark inside, and he stopped, and wondered if maybe his family had moved and had just failed to mention it. It certainly looked like they had left the place a long time ago, so they could have forgotten Jack didn't know the new address. But then, why did no one move in? He knocked on the dusty door, just in case, but his fears were confirmed by no one answering. It was late enough now that both his parents should be home.

He ran a hand through his hair, and turned, calling back to his companions, "Hey guys, I'm sorry! I think my family-" Just as he turned all the way, he saw everyone, plus North's truck were gone. "What?" Jack asked himself out loud. It was physically impossible for North, or his truck to move quietly. There was no way the others could have ditched him. Even if they could, what was the point? "Guys?" he shouted, suspecting some kind of prank. "Guys, this isn't funny! I don't think my parents are here and my phone's in your truck North! I kind of need that if you want me to find out where we're actually meant to be going!" It felt a little ridiculous to be shouting to the air, but then again, his friends should be used to his ridiculous antics by now.

"I'm sorry Jack."

Jack was startled by the sound of Tooth's voice from behind him. Just as he turned back to find her, he felt a pressure along his jaw, and it felt like an ice pick was being driven through his skull. The force drove him to his knees, but the feeling of hands cupping his face never left.

Images, scents, sounds, tastes, sensations, everything battered against his brain at once. He tried to clutch his head, to keep it from exploding, but he could feel more hands holding his arms still at his sides.

No, not hands. Paws. But that was impossible. Despite the impossibility of giant paws holding him steady, his brain was quite insistent that they were, in fact, paws. Another ice pick drove its way into his brain and he screamed.

Familiar. Somehow the paws, and the hands were familiar. Everything was familiar. The voices rushing by his ears. The sounds. The flashing images. The feel of feathered wings-

Jack sat up quickly, and gulped in huge lungfuls of air. As his brain processed all the new information as old and familiar, everything he had known slowly dissolved. It was still there in particles, but they were insignificant in comparison to everything else, which he was finally remembering the word for.

Memories. He was remembering everything, and with all these new memories, his brain could finally process that what he had presumed to be his memories of the past seven years, for the last decade or so, were fake. He continued to drag in air, even as the pain that came with each new wave of memories receded.

His eyes began to clear, now that the pain wasn't making it impossible to see. He blinked a couple of times, and oh, all those colours could only belong to Tooth. He smiled up at her, seeing her properly for the first time in far too long. She was beautiful, and how could he have forgotten everything about her that made her really shine?

Her hands still held his face, and in response to his smile, Tooth gave a shaky one of her own. Jack tried to lift a hand to her own face, but found his arms were still held down. He turned his head, and there was Bunny, in all his six foot, rabbit-esque glory. He was frowning, clearly concerned, neither of which was really new, and Jack smiled, knowing that that had never changed. Bunny's features visibly softened at the smile, and he released Jack's arms, only to pin him in what Jack thought of as a very uncharacteristic hug.

He didn't have much time to think about it when Tooth launched herself into the hug as well. Jack felt another impact in his side that felt like being hit by a soft and grainy medicine ball. Last of all, all of them were scooped up off the ground by wide arms and laughter, and Jack laughed along, because that _definitely_  was not out of character for North.

"It's been a while guys," Jack laughed, and held onto Bunny and Sandy to stay up. He was torn between adding 'It's good to see you' and 'I missed you' when his mind began to catch up on what was missing, and a feeling that was there that shouldn't be. He looked around for the source of wrongness.

It smacked him in the face, before he realised what was missing. One of Tooth's wings, literally was shoved in his face in the hug, and that's what was missing. His wings were gone! Stolen from him, and never returning. The age old panic, that came with his revelation was familiar too. He began to feel it fill his lungs, and crawl up his throat, when suddenly, it just stopped.

Instead, he felt the ghosts of hands on his back, and lips, kissing, whispering, and worshipping his hideous scars. Those memories kept him grounded, and he must have started crying, because everything was blurry again, and North had put them down, and everyone was hovering around him in an attempt to calm him down, and all he could whisper was "Thank you." He kept repeating it like a mantra, not even certain who he was thanking, and what for, only that it needed saying.

His recent memories may have been based on lies, but he was a fool to think they were insignificant for even a second.

"Jack?" Jack looked up, when he realised that Tooth had probably been calling his name for a while now. Even frowning, and frightened, she was magnificent in all her feathers, and a small part of him felt ashamed at ever having begrudged her, her gorgeous wings. After another moment of taking her in, he hugged her close. Her large wings fluttered, and flapped close, as if they wanted to wrap themselves around the two of them as well, but Tooth was hesitating.

"Jack?" Her head was tucked into his neck, so her voice came out as a muffled squeak, but this close, Jack could still understand her. They had been inseparable for too long to not be able to understand each other. "Can you- How can you-?" she kept cutting herself.

Jack just smiled, and ran a hand along one of her grand, multicolored wings. In response to his touch, they folded in closer. "I'm sorry Tooth. You must have been so lonely," he whispered. "Can you forgive me?"

At that, she pushed back and held him at arms length in shock. "For what?" she screeched. "I'm the one meant to be asking that Jack! I went into your head! I rearranged all your memories! I've done everything I was never meant to do, and it's all because I'm so selfish!"

"Everything you did was to help me, wasn't it?" Jack asked gently, and pet her wing again to help Tooth relax. She could be a little high strung at times. "So thank you." They relaxed into each other again, and matched their breathing. One thought did nag at the back of Jack's mind though. He only pulled back a little to ask, "Why did you give me my memories back now? What happened to make you change your mind?"

Tooth didn't answer. She only held on tighter and refused to look at him. Instead, Sandy floated up to their eye level, and waved, volunteering.

Being twenty years out of practice, and never very good at interpreting Sandy's mode of speech in the first place made it near impossible to guess at what the flying sand was meant to mean. After about ten minutes of failed attempts at conveying the message, North took pity on Jack and stepped in.

"He is saying it is because of your nature with the dreaming. Pitch had been telling you about how you were whispering Koz good dreams, and you were not remembering. What does that sound like to you?" North leaned against one of the columns of the porch, and let Jack take in the new information. That combined with the strange image Sandy had made of a person with wings falling, then falling without wings made more sense.

"You were afraid I was going to dive in all the way with no way out?" Jack looked around at the four others. Were they really so afraid Jack wouldn't be able to get out of a dream. Surely Sandy knew that he'd be thrust out whether he wanted to or not once the dream ended.

"We were afraid ya wouldn't make the landing in the first place mate," Bunny said plainly. Sandy tugged on his sleeve, and demonstrated with images, while Bunny explained what Sandy had already told them. "However you choose to manipulate dreams, diving into dreams is just what you Incubi do. Apparently you can even do it unconsciously Jack." Sandy showed a little winged figure folding its wings and diving straight down. "Most Incubi will stop their fall by opening their wings at the last minute, and fly the rest of the way down." Sandy's little figure did just that, and landed gently on the porch at everyone's feet.

Jack reached around to his back, not liking where this was going. He might have been free from the panic overwhelming him now, but this conversation was beginning to make his stomach rise into his throat. Bunny continued regardless. "Without yer wings, you would just dive head in. Guess what that would do ta ya?" Sandy didn't demonstrate that particular scenario. They all knew exactly what it would look like.

"That would be traumatizing for Koz," Jack whispered, horrified that he could have done that to either of the twins.

"You could have _died_  Jack!" Bunny shouted, always the first to turn a conversation into a confrontation. Jack took a step back, but couldn't get any farther, with Tooth blocking him. "Forget about your human playmates for one second and think it through! That kind of crash landing would have killed you! There is no coming back from that dive Jack!"

Somewhere in his mind, Jack knew Bunny's anger was fueled by concern, but all Jack saw was the fight Bunny always wanted. Bunny didn't give him a chance to respond. "We needed to get you out of there, because you were dangerously close to killing yourself. Sure Sandy gave the soldier dream sand to stave off any nightmares, but who knows what horrors lie in the mind of that writer that you might try to unconsciously soothe?"

Jack bristled at the flippant way Bunny was referring to Pitch and Koz. They were more than just human playthings! They were more than just a soldier and a writer, but Bunny most likely didn't care. He'd never been fond of humans higher than three feet. Tooth kept him calm though, by holding onto his shoulders and brushing her wings along his arms. Despite what Bunny said and thought, Jack really was more concerned about how him crashing and dying would affect the twins. He knew the crash would be traumatizing enough, but he had no idea what it would look like outside the realm of dreaming. Would he disappear entirely? Would his physical body be alive while his mind rotted like the brain dead vegetable humans on television, or would he just be dead through and through? Regardless of the end result, he knew it would be too much for either twin to handle.

One thought didn't let him take all this lying down however.

"Out?" Jack whispered through gritted teeth. He was pretty sure he'd never agreed to that. "And what about my parents? Or was that just a ruse?" Jack wanted to lash out and be angry. Bunny probably wanted that too. Fighting was what they did, and having all these others around made it more difficult for either of them to get what they wanted.

"Laaaaaaaaaate!" Jack turned to the sound of the hollering, and laughed. Trust his mother to hit a cue and disperse a tense situation at the same time. All his friends backed off quickly, well familiar with Katherine's landings and greetings.

Once she was low enough, Jack launched himself off the porch to meet her part way. She could carry him well enough, but a little part of Jack now hurt, knowing he'd never have flying with his parents again. They lowered to the ground gently enough, and his mom clutched him like she never wanted to let go. He hugged her back, pet her feathers, and for her own pride, he pretended he couldn't feel the tears soaking into his shoulder.

"Where's dad?" he asked when he was sure his mom could look at him.

Sure enough, when Katherine lifted her head, her eyes were clear, and her smile was as bright as it had ever been. "He just had some business to finish up with." She glanced over Jack's shoulder, and called to North, "How much have you guys told him?"

Told him? Told him about what?

"Nothing concerning Incubi policy and politics. We have been leaving that to you," North shouted back.

 

Strangely enough, this seemed to please his mom. His mom had hated politics when he was young. What had changed in twenty-

Oh.

"Could I have some time alone with my son? Thank you all for taking care of him for me." The others nodded, and it was amusing watching them shuffle shyly to North's sleigh, and fly away. Despite being some of the oldest spirits on the planet, Jack always laughed at the deference they showed to his mother.

"So, should I ask questions, like how you got into the dreaded politics, or should I let you tell me a story until dad gets here?" Despite asking it as a question, Jack pulled her down so he could rest his head on her lap anyway.

Her hand hovered around Jack's back, as if to pet his wings like she had when her son was growing up, but hesitated, and put her hands to his head instead, and ran her fingers through his hair. "How much do you remember about the war?" she asked quietly.

Jack didn't reply for a minute or two. He knew if he said anything right away, it would be hurtful and bitter, and his mom didn't deserve that. She hadn't been the one behind his capture, his torture, and later his abandonment. "I remember being locked up." He had to sift through the rest, because some of what had happened after was layered with the fake memories Tooth had given him. "Tooth got me out. I didn't react well." It was easier to mutter through them, as if he was just reading them off a page he had been meant to memorize. It was much less personal, and it certainly hurt less. "I didn't get better."

He remembered North coming in on him screaming, and bleeding where he tried to claw wings back out. He remembered Bunny trying to teach him meditation and relaxation techniques. Sandy had only tried giving him dreams of flying once, when the next morning he woke feeling more grounded than ever, and threatened to fly out the window. He remembered hating Tooth with his entire being. He remembered rejecting her, and screaming at her to leave. How was it fair that she still had her wings? How could she still be beautiful, strong, and able to fly, while he was left as this grotesque, disfigured _thing_. He remembered everything he said to hurt her, and how she still came back that final time. The memories were most blurred there, which probably meant this was when Tooth had gone in his head.

"Let me tell you our story," she began in her magical voice which Jack had always known to be the best storyteller voice in the world. "Your father and I were also fighting in the war. We all were, whether we wanted to be or not. The Cupids were relentless, and at that point, wanted nothing short of genocide." Jack nodded, and his mother's hand paused on his head, not sure what to do. This wasn't how she was used to showing affection. Jack put his hand on hers, and continued the motion of petting his hair for her.

Once they were both comfortable again, she continued. "They took you, and your father and I _begged_  those in charge of negotiations to come up with something, if only to bring you home. They refused, even when more of us were taken prisoner. Then," his mother paused again, and Jack turned his head up to see his mother looking at his back. She took a shuddering breath and a gulp, and continued on. "Then word got out that the Cupids were ripping the wings of those they had captured. It was around that time that everyone stopped paying attention to what our leaders had to say. The Cupids had declared war, and the time for peace talks was done. Your dad and I led many into battle, and with the help of outsiders, also sick of the constant fighting, we finally beat the Cupids into asking _us_  for peace."

Even though she was smiling, Jack had to lift a hand to wipe away tears from his mother's face. He knew something had to have happened afterwards, or this conversation would have happened over a decade ago. She leaned into his hand, and laughed, and it shocked Jack that his mom could make such a bitter sound. "We beat them into a peace that has lasted since the time of its being written, but they still managed to create their own clauses. One was that we could not induce lust for another human. We must ensure that the lust in our dreams were directed only at us." Jack could already see where this was going, given his new found memory of Koz fretting over a dream of his brother, even if Jack hadn't been the one at fault for that. There were certainly enough of Pitch's dreams with Koz for blame to follow. "They also demanded that we leave love to love's domain, and not interfere, which fell to the first clause anyway. They named several conditions despite being on the receiving end of the peace, but they all sounded like reasonable demands at the time. Most of what they asked are things that we teach our children in the first place.

"What ended up driving the nail in the coffin was the demand that this new law be applied to all previous cases. Of course no investigations were actually made on free Incubi, and any suspected weren't handed over, but with those they already had imprisoned, they refused to release them. They planned it well, as you were the only prisoner they had that met any of their criteria." Jack couldn't stop his mother's tears anymore, they were pouring down her face so fast. She curled around him, and he could only hold her tightly, and whisper calming sounds to her.

"They had no army left! They had no rights to pick fights with us. Even if anyone of us broke the rules now, they wouldn't have the power to do anything about it! They still won though! They won by taking you away! They hid you and we couldn't search for you! I'm sorry Jack! I'm so so sorry."

Jack was literally stuck at this point. He understood the situation itself was incredibly sad, but he couldn't help chuckling a little. "That's a sad story mom," he mock complained. "Can I give it a happy ending?" Katherine could only stare at her son in shock. She was so sure he would hate her. What kind of mom just left her child to fend for himself and did nothing to save him? "First off, love is definitely not just their domain," Jack held a finger up with a mischievous grin. She sat up, to give Jack more room to tell his story. "You may not believe it, but I found two humans. Actually, they were the two humans in my charge before the Cupids got me. Twin boys, and they fell in love mom! I like to think I had something to do with that. So I guess that means I broke more than one rule," Jack laughed, and Katherine couldn't help laughing with him. Her son's laughter had always been contagious. "I found them, and they love me too. It's pretty much love all around." Katherine smiled at Jack, understanding what he meant right away.

'Now I get what North meant when he said I'd managed to do what others thought was impossible,' Jack thought to himself. Even between Incubi, other creatures always had some level of doubt of their ability to feel more than lust for their partners.

"I've spent so many years thinking you and dad hated me, and you've spent the last forever thinking the same thing. If you're cool with it, I think I'd like to move past it, and say there's nothing that needs forgiving."

The smile on his mom's face was worth even more than the feeling of relief at letting the last of his bitterness go. Blotchy faced, and red eyed, his mom was still the most gorgeous woman on the planet. "Yes. Yes I'd like that very much," she nodded, and scrubbed away at the tears in her eyes. "What on Earth would you think we hated you for though?"

Jack blushed a little, having forgotten that his fear had been based on a fake memory. How many of those would he have to sift through now from the past two years especially? "Did Tooth explain about how she poked at my memory?" Katherine nodded, but something in the set of her jaw, and the look in her eyes said that she was less forgiving on this matter than Jack had been. "It was really good for my recovery," Jack attempted to defend Tooth before continuing on. "But yeah, I guess it was important for me to not want to go home, given, y'know, how I thought I was human, and you and dad, very much are not." He tried laughing again to lighten the mood, but it was forced and they both knew it. So instead, Jack reached up to pet his mother's wings. "I thought I had a sister," he mumbled, even now memories of a little face smiling, and dancing, and calling to him filled his mind. Her screams and the sound of a car crunching in the ice still lingered at the back of his mind.

Katherine blushed now and turned her head away, and this intrigued Jack's curious mind too much to say the next part where he'd killed her. "You may not be wrong," she muttered, and Jack's face lit up brightly. He turned to the stomach that he was already lying next to, and reached his hand to feel for something.

"Seriously?" Jack was vibrating with excitement, even though he couldn't find anything to indicate that what his mom was saying had any truth to it.

"We don't know what they'll be yet, but yes. You'll get to be a big brother." This day was just full of ups and downs and all kinds of surprises.

Jack had to shake his head to clear out the question asking why she hadn't said 'again'. He'd been an only child. He had to start remembering that more clearly. "This is great! If it's a she, can we name her Emma?" He wanted that chance to be the big brother he'd remembered being, and he wanted to give Emma a chance to actually exist.

"Emma sounds like a wonderful name. She'll be the cutest fledgling around with that name." Katherine looked to the sky after saying this, and her smile brightened even more than when Jack had forgiven her. Jack looked up too, and waved, well aware that his dad only had eyes on his mom. Really, who could look at these two and think that Incubi couldn't love?

Jack moved over, so his mom and dad could fly to each other. He clamped down on his jealousy as best as he could, and decided to just be happy for the two of them. For a while, they just floated in the air, and Jack decided to send a quick text to Tooth.

- _Mom and dad are giving each other goopy lovey-dovey eyes. If they keep this up, I may need saving._ -

- _Lol K We can come back, and pick everybody up._ -

Jack stared in confusion at that for a while. Maybe they were going to stay somewhere a little less rundown for his week visit?

- _kk. Btw, why'd you give me a sister in my memories?_ -

There was no harm in asking Tooth now. All was said and done, so he might as well ask about it.

- _You did that. I can't fix memories as specifically as your brain can. I just told it 'you can't go home' and your brain went and gave you more trauma to work through._ -

Jack could only stare in shock for a minute or two. So Emma...his sister, and her smile and everything had been all him? He couldn't help but smile down at his phone. Well at least now he wouldn't have to bother asking Tooth permission about using his sister's name.

Before he could reply, pale fingers snatched the phone away, and Jack laughed at his dad attempting to chastise him while upside down. He jumped up to take it back, but was taunted as Nightlight held it just out of reach.

"Hey, c'mon dad!" Jack laughed, and jumped for the phone, even knowing his dad could fly out of reach. Instead, his dad surprised him by flying down closer, until he was on the ground with Jack. Of course, he still held the phone out of reach, but he used his free arm to pull Jack into a long missed, one-armed hug. With his face smothered into his father's shoulder, Jack slumped, and gave in with a mumbled, "I missed you too dad." He wrapped both his arms properly around his dad, and enjoyed the feeling of feathers on his arms again.

"Let him go Nightlight. You'll suffocate him if you keep him like that much longer." Jack felt his mom thwap his dad on the shoulder. Reluctantly, Nightlight gave Jack enough space to breathe, but didn't let him much farther than that. He wrapped his other arm around Jack as well, and hugged him properly this time. Jack laughed when he felt his mom hug him from behind, effectively pinning him between the two of them.

He couldn't help thinking how he was used to this in a much different context and laughed even harder. "What was that about being able to breathe mom?" Jack asked through his laughter, and turned his head to peck her on the cheek.

"Hush. I'm your mother. It's my job to squish you." They all laughed at that, flopping to the ground again, and Jack was content to lie there between them. "Now tell us more about these twins of yours," his mother insisted, tracing some not so subtle love bites along the back of his neck. Jack laughed, like his lungs were full of bubbles. Only his parents or other Incubi would be okay with him taking part in an incestuous threesome. 'More humans should have Incubi standards,' he thought, before regaling them with the full story.

And both parents insisted on the FULL story. TMI was not something they were familiar with. Plus, as Katherine justified, they needed to make sure that whoever Jack was happy with was treating him well in ALL aspects of his life. Nightlight only nodded at his wife's sagely wisdom, and gestured for Jack to continue his story about their first anniversary, and the time they'd house sat for the would-be in laws, and how they'd all agreed Sex on the Beach was better in a glass than in practice.

The telltale jingle of bells alerted everyone to the return of Jack's friends. They waved, but didn't bother to stand up from their pile on the ground. Jack was perfectly comfortable lying between two warm bodies, and besides, it had been far, FAR too long since he’d gotten to see his parents, so he was content to just stay where he was.

Eventually though, all things had to come to an end, and their moment ended when the sleigh landed. “Is everyone ready to go?” Tooth called to their pile with a bright smile that radiated with her magic.

“Go where?” Jack finally asked, and sat up, pulling his parents up with him.

Katherine whispered in Jack’s ear, and caught his attention. “We were thinking you might like to come home, but now that we’ve heard everything, I’m beginning to think you already know where home is.” She played with Jack’s hair, a mother’s knowing smile on her lips, and Nightlight nodded his agreement.

“Then why do you look so sad?” Jack whispered back seeing the real expressions they were hiding behind smiles.

At first they said nothing, until Katherine finally replied with a quiet sigh. “It’s like losing you all over again. We just got you back, only to realize you’ve grown up so much without us.”

“Who’s losing who now?” Jack sounded mockingly offended in his laughter. “Please! You’re stuck with me now! Just, I’ll have to visit only once in a while, and I’ll have to think of some reason or another why the twins can’t see you-”

“What?!” Katherine screeched in horror. “You mean we can’t meet the precious human boys you’ve told us so much about?”

Well, at least she was no longer upset about the idea of not seeing each other. Although, she did bring up an interesting point. “Unless you can come up with a less painful, and _much less permanent_  way to ditch the wings, then unfortunately not. I’ll keep you updated though. How does that sound?” Jack asked, and pet his mom’s wings again, missing their softness already.

“You’d better!” Although it was meant to sound threatening, it was hard to be scary when she pecked her son on the cheek. “You get home safely now, and text us when you need a holiday. Or, you could just call us because.” Jack was confused for a moment, until his dad flashed Jack’s phone in front of his eyes again, and held up a second in his other hand that was probably his. Jack could only laugh, and he took his phone back to find ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ favourited in his contacts.

“I’ll definitely call. Every week!” he promised, and his parents both smothered him in kisses and feathers. “Keep me posted about when I’m going to be a big brother!” he shouted, just as his parents began to fly away. “Remember! Her name is Emma!”

“Jack?” Tooth called, and Jack turned away from the sight of his parents flying off, hand in hand to all his friends approaching with confusion on their faces. “Aren’t you going home?” she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Jack just blinded her with his smile the way he always did when he wanted something to go his way. “That depends on if North here will give me a lift back to the Workshop. I can probably walk my way home from there, if it’s not too much trouble Santa,” Jack winked up at North, in his sleigh and tapped the side of his nose.

North of course laughed. How like Jack. “Is no problem. We may have to take little detour with loop-di-loops, but you are liking the loop-di-loops, I know.”

“But Jack!” Tooth seemed a lot more worried about Jack’s decision and idea about what home was than either Jack or North were. “What about the dreams? What if you don’t come back? How are we supposed to see you?” Sandy was signing things at them in sand just as quickly as Tooth was speaking, and it honestly made Jack a little dizzy.

“Have a little faith Tooth,” Jack smiled, clapping her on the shoulder, and using her as leverage to push himself into the sleigh. “They do actually teach us a thing or two about preventing injury in dreams. I’ll come up with something,” he said, waving off her worries with a flap of his hand. “As for coming back, you know I’ll always come back. There’s no way I could just leave my best girl behind, and I know there’s no way you could ever forget about me. We always find each other.” He held up a pinky for her, and Tooth smiled around her tears and pulled herself up beside Jack by that same pinky.

“Everyone buckle up! We have a long drive ahead of us!” With that, North flicked the reins, and they flew off.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp! That was a long chapter!  
> Ta da!!!!  
> One more chapter to go for sure, maybe an epilogue, although I'd have to write that, so no telling yet if it'll happen. ..probably not considering I've had this page open to update this chapter for a week...
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please tell me what you thought! <3
> 
> Mirella


	33. One Small Step

Later, when everyone had fallen asleep in a pile, Jack crawled up to the front seat to join North. The old man hadn’t been kidding when he said he was taking a detour. Jack supposed it made sense, since his trip had originally been meant to last a week.

 

North just took one look at Jack from the side of his eye, and his eyes crinkled the way they always did when he detected a secret about to be shared. “So, what is it you have come to ask me that is so very hush hush?”

 

“You were once mortal, right North?” Jack asked, looking down below at the cities all lit up under the night sky. He had definitely missed the view from way up high. Maybe he should ask North for lifts more often, now that the cat was out of the bag about all of them. “Do you still happen to know the friend that helped you out with that?”

 

North nodded after a moment, with a serious look on his face. “Da. I am thinking what you want is something that will make all of us very sad,” North began, and Jack saw the way he visibly deflated. Every now and then, North’s age really showed, and this was one of those moments. “But I am also thinking,” he continued, “That this is something that will make you very happy. Let us consider this a very early Christmas gift, and as a bonus, you get a longer ride in the sleigh.”

 

Jack smiled brightly, with a light in his eyes shining that had nothing to do with his hunger. “Merry Christmas North,” Jack whispered, and pecked him on the cheek.

 

\---

 

A week later, and North dropped Jack off in front of his house in his bright red truck. Jack waved him off, and North honked as he left. North would probably be calling him later to confirm their plans for coffee and toy making that weekend, as well to check how Jack was feeling after giving up six hundred to seven hundred years of his life, give or take, for a much shorter and more human fifty to sixty.

 

Give or take.

 

He had told himself a dozen times on the way here, that he didn’t regret his choice. It just meant that he had to cram a lot more, into a lot less time. It was what he had been expecting from life up until a week ago, so really, he shouldn’t worry about the change at all.

 

It didn’t make breathing any easier to tell himself that.

 

He had barely put his key in the lock, when the door slammed open, and Jack was scooped up into two pairs of arms, and squeezed tightly between them. Jack’s feet couldn’t even touch the ground, and he laughed, thinking it felt just a tiny bit like flying.

 

“You’re back!”

 

“Never leave us again.”

 

“We missed you.”

  
Jack just laughed at the twins’ antics, and he could definitely understand why he fell in love with these two. “I’m home!” he shouted happily, and buried himself into the hug, and knew without any uncertainty that he had definitely made the right choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so my friends, we have reached the final chapter. It has been a good journey, albeit, much longer than I originally intended. As I promised, here is our happy ending, for Jack, and his hopeless boys. A quick ending, I know, but I hope an enjoyable one all the same.
> 
> For those of you who maybe missed it, Jack traded his longevity as an Incubus, for a much shorter human life so he could properly be with Pitch and Koz. He's still got all the powers and memories now, but he just has a shorter life expectancy. 
> 
> The douche behind that transformation was Man in the Moon of course.
> 
> I hope you all had fun reading this. I had great fun writing it. I wish you all the best, and hope to hear from you again if I ever manage to write more.
> 
> Mirella

**Author's Note:**

> Who completed a long work? I completed a long work! This is for the glorious Zinfandel, and will be released in chapters of varying lengths over the weeks to come. Expect a lot of ups and downs and various turns, and I hope you enjoy the ride!


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